Cataclysma
by Xeroedge
Summary: One Raven faces Destiny. A Destiny he didn't ask for, but then again, when does Destiny ever care about what we want?
1. The Mission

Chap 1 the mission  
  
I work in the garage of the global cortex branch that was closest to me whenever I don't have a mission, which I usually do. The closest garage was in cercall city; about an hour commute every day. Not good for a late night owl, but o-well that's what I get. So I got up on the 13th at about 5 o'clock and started getting ready for work. I own my own house in Trene city. It isn't the biggest house but at three bedrooms, two and a half baths, it more than accommodates me. It has a large garage and backyard. I took a shower, got dressed and grabbed my glock; I always have it with me. I made some eggs and toast then headed off to work. I got into my truck and headed off to the garage. Most MT pilots and ravens like to splurge on their cars and such things. I just needed something to get me from point A to point B, so I still drive my trusty old truck. its got a king cab and long bed. So I can throw my motorcycle into the back whenever I want to go ride.  
  
I was at the garage in about an hour and a half. The garage is easily the biggest building in Cercall city. It was colored the orange and black colors of the cortex. It had an oval shape and was quite long. The garages for the ACs and MTs went well underground too. What I normally do when I get to the garage is usually see if there's anything to do just "around the house." Which usually includes running errands or just cleaning (the life of an MT pilot can be dull). But today, lucky for me, when I walked in I saw the garage supervisor running at me...  
  
"Xero! Let...me...breath...." he slumped over and put his hands on his knees  
  
"What's up?"  
  
"We need you to go on a mission... along with two other... pilots and assist a team already... in the field."  
  
"Well, ok. Where and when is this taking place?"  
  
"Dim Forest, right now!"  
  
"Aww, shit!"  
  
"If u survive we'll give you 36 thousand credits each."  
  
"Whoa! 36 thousand! Great now I'm gonna die." high paying missions are always the most dangerous. "So, who else is going?"  
  
"Blaze and Morrow."  
  
"Ok, there pretty good."  
  
"Yea but so are you, so get going. The others are already waiting in the transport."  
  
"Alright, I'm on it...later." and with that I was off.  
  
With my newfound knowledge I proceeded straight to my custom, high-end MT. I rushed down the stairs and grabbed the nearest elevator down to the garage. I started thinking about the mission while I was in the elevator. "I wonder what kind off mission would cause the cortex to throw in support for a team already in the thick of it, normally once your in your on your own." Once the elevator doors opened into the MT garage I stopped questioning my employer and ran straight to my MT. I ran up the stairs to the catwalk that crossed the cores of the MTs in the garage. The garages for the MTs and the ACs were basically in the same "room". It's just so huge and the fact that the MTs and the ACs were kept on separate sides, everyone just called it two garages. Once I reached the catwalk I ran across until I got to my MT. I had to stop and admire it for a second; its white and gold paint job glistened in the beaming lights of the garage. I was known around for making my own customizations to just about everything I owned, from my dishwasher to my MT.  
  
I jumped into the spherical cockpit and put my arms and legs into the braces, wrapped the sensor straps around my chest, put the virtual helmet on and put my password in.  
  
"MT revelation starting up. Doing initial systems check." my custom computers normal response whenever I started up the MT. "Xero, are we going on a mission?"  
  
"That we are."  
  
"Where is the mission taking place?"  
  
"The dim forest." I responded as I lifted my right arm and watched the monitor as the MT's right arm moved to match.  
  
"All systems functioning normally."  
  
"All right then, lets go." I moved toward the transport hanger where the other MTs were waiting for me. I had to take the service elevator at the front of the garage. Then I had to boost over to the transport bay, which also had a landing strip on it so that the transports could take off straight out of the hangar. When I got there, I saw the large transport plane already warming its engines. I looked inside the open hatch and saw the other two MTs waving for me to hurry up. I jumped inside just as the plane was leaving the hangar and starting to taxi.  
  
About halfway through the trip I got out of my MT. I walked out of the cargo bay and into the "lounge", more like a small room with a couch and refrigerator. I decided on attempting to talk with the other two pilots. This is always hard before a mission because everyone is always nervous.  
  
"So...you guys nervous?" stupid question dumbass your balls are about ready to fall off, your shakin' so much. All I was greeted with were a couple of choked "eeeh"s. But that was expected.  
  
"You guys catch how much we're gettin' paid?"  
  
"Yep, 36 Gs. Can't say I'm thrilled about it though." replied Blaze.  
  
"Neither can I." Morrow added. "The whole, "if we survive" part kinda got me a little worried."  
  
"Yea, me too. But hey ya-know they always say that." was my sad attempt to cheer them up, which obviously failed because as soon as I said it they seemed to slump even lower.  
  
I had known Blaze and Morrow for a while and we had become good friends. Blaze was about 5'10 with dark hair and green eyes. She was also in very good shape and was a very attractive woman. Morrow was taller than both of us at about 6'5 and he had a heavy build. Morrow wasn't the kind of guy you would want to get angry. He had blond hair that was about 2 1/2 inches long. Myself, I'm not the biggest guy around. I'm about 6'2 and at 200 pounds. I had red hair that was about three inches long. I didn't care much about my hair.  
  
BEEP..."all pilot to their MTs."  
  
"That's our queue." So we all ran to our MTs and jumped in. We could all hear the nuclear generators in each others MTs roar to life as they started up. We waited for about five minutes for the order to jump.  
  
BEEP..."deploy!"  
  
That was the last thing we heard as the back cargo door of the plane opened in mid-air.  
  
"Here we go!" As I jumped first. I started free falling and checked my altimeter; we were falling from about 11-thousand feet. "Jesus, could they drop us any higher!?" I started feathering my boosters to cushion my landing. I didn't want to hit the ground going God-knows how fast from 11- thousand feet, which would rip my legs off. As tough as they may seem, the MTs were still vulnerable to the forces of nature.  
  
When I hit the ground I did a final weapons check and initiated combat mode. I checked over my MTs load-out; the right rifle-arm was functioning nominally as was the blade on the left arm, the missile launchers on my back and the extensions (an extra armor plate on the left and a support missile launcher on the right). My chest missile interceptor has never really worked correctly since a missile hit me right in the middle of my chest about a year ago. Luckily it was a small missile and didn't do much other damage. I never really bothered with fixing it as it never really helped me in the first place.  
  
"Morrow, Blaze; you guys all checked out?"  
  
"Roger." they both replied at the same time.  
  
I looked around a bit and I could see trees that were as big around as my MT and bigger. The trees were also several times taller than my MT. I looked up and found out why they called it the dim forest, the canopy blocked out ALL sunlight. We were dropped right at the edge of the forest; once we walked in we would be in complete darkness. The ground plants would come up to my MTs waist as soon as I walked in. It would be hard to maneuver once inside.  
  
The radio started crackling: "ok, were having some radio interference so you guys are on your own after this. Your mission is to break through the perimeter guards around a small Kisaragi base in the area. After you have control of the area a small strike force will enter the base and siege it from the inside."  
  
"What does the strike force consist of?"  
  
"It is made of two ace MTs an..." the crackling was drowning out the radio. That was the last we heard from command.  
  
"And what! What ELSE!! TELL ME!!!" you could hear Morrow yelling over the crackling of the radio. He hated info shortage above all else. He lost his family because of a lack of information; his whole family were MT pilots and they were all on a mission when the radio cut out. A raven showed up, and the raven claimed to be on there side. They never got their mission assignment because of the radio. The raven said that he was there to help with their mission. Their mission was to eliminate a raven that was located in the area.... As soon as the raven got close he opened fire and killed Morrows whole family and blew the right rifle-arm off of his MT. After that (I was told) he just boosted forward and punched right at the ACs cockpit, and after that the AC just kind'ove slumped over and fell on its face, suggesting that the pilot was dead. He has never had a great liking of ravens since then. And after the incident he changed his callsign to Morrow for reasons that anyone could understand. Why he still continues to be a pilot, I don't know but I would never question him.  
  
"Well, shall we get to work then?" I never really got an answer; they just followed me as I walked into the woods. I could tell that Morrow was especially jittery, as he kept looking this way and that, behind him, moving very quickly.  
  
After about ten minutes of searching we came across our first set of targets; four battle MTs. (The kind with big gattling gun arms and missile launchers on the back.) They had flatter cores and reverse-joint legs. No problem.  
  
I signaled for the other two to kneel down.  
  
"Morrow, flank left. Blaze, flank right. Ill draw attention."  
  
"Roger"  
  
"Roger"  
  
They both slowly walked around the four battle MTs not wanting to gain their attention before we were ready. As soon as our position formed a triangle around them I qued up the radio again.  
  
"You guys start firing good shots as soon as they head towards me."  
  
Another set of "Rogers" followed this order as well. Actually I didn't really know how I got elected leader. Great, I hate responsibility.  
  
I started boosting towards the group and fired four shots into the group at random. Luckily three of them hit. I boosted straight at one of them and rammed it with my left shoulder (the shoulder with the extra armor plate). Then I pulled up my right arm, which had a rifle for a forearm and blew five holes into the front of its core. I leapt back and kept boosted backwards as I watched it fall forward onto its face. As soon as I stopped boosting back I stopped for a sec to give my generator a rest and then started Boosting back at the group. As soon as I got "uncomfortably" close I boosted straight up into the air and just in time too because no sooner than I had cleared the MTs height, Blaze and Morrow started firing careful shots into the group.  
  
In the air I decided to turn on my MTs targeting computer. They aren't quite as good as an ACs F.C.S. but mine was pretty close. I wanted to hit my targets from now on.  
  
While I was in the air Blaze and Morrow took down two of the three remaining MTs with about five shots each. After I turned on my targeting system I cut my boosters and started dropping. I maneuvered myself and landed on top of the one remaining MT, effectively crushing its legs. Then I took my blade out and stabbed it straight down through the middle of the MT. I then boosted off and fired three shots into the top of it. As soon as I landed it stumbled over and blew-up behind me.  
  
"Cool move." Blaze complimented  
  
"My favorite." and indeed it was my favorite battle tactic. "Lets keep moving then." And we set off.  
  
About three minutes later I stopped very suddenly mid-step. "Hold it!" The others nearly fell over upon hearing my order.  
  
"What's up with you?" Morrow seemed irritated. He was unfortunately quick to anger.  
  
"Check your radar!" Blaze was quick; she figured it out. Ahead, about three hundred yards there were twelve blips on the radar.  
  
"Twelve.I don't like those odds Xero."  
  
"I don't either. But lets see what they are before we panic." So we continued forward slowly until they were barely in view.  
  
There were three more battle MTs that were the same as Before, four small floating pod MTs that had small panels that came down the side at an angle and five MTs that I had never seen before. The unknown MTs had two arms that looked like they had the 1000 round AC machine guns for a forearm like our MTs had rifles. It looked like that was the only armament they had. They were a little taller than the battle MTs. They had a small head and a small rounded core. And they had Black and dark green camouflage which blended perfectly with the forest.  
  
"Ok guys, this could be difficult; those pods will come down with a single hit but landing the hit is a problem. The Battle MTs we can take care of. And those weird new MTs look pretty fast."  
  
"Got a plan?"  
  
"Got milk?"  
  
"Uuh...no."  
  
"Theirs your answer."  
  
"Damn you and your mind games! We are in serious trouble here and look at you, jokin' around!" Morrow was really pissed; I thought it was kinda funny.  
  
"I try not to look at the situation as a bleak one. Calm down man, just trying to lighten the mood here." People also know me for almost never losing my temper. Very few people have ever seen me truly angry.  
  
"Ok guys, I have an idea. Were going to try to keep hidden for as long as possible. We will split up and surround them as we did the last group. I will fire the first shot, as soon as I do I want you two to start planting shots into the upper bodies of those new MTs. I will start picking off the pods first. Hopefully, all of us firing at them at the same time from different directions will confuse the rest of them. I am going to stay put and take out the pods, you guys will fire one or two shots then move. Don't get too close. Got it?"  
  
"Yea, I got it." Blaze was quick to reply and she rarely questioned her orders.  
  
"Do you think it will work?" Morrow was always very pessimistic.  
  
"I hope so. Lets rock."  
  
"Roger!" they both said in unison.  
  
Morrow went left and Blaze went right. I stayed where I was and kneeled down, assuming a firing stance. I raised my right rifle-arm up straight and braced it with my left arm.  
  
Morrow was the first to reach his firing point. "In position. Taking aim... ready."  
  
Blaze was ready about a minute later. "Ready."  
  
"Alright lets do it!" I took careful aim and fired four rifle shots. Three met their targets and the pods that were hit promptly exploded. Immediately after I fired two of the new MTs hit the ground.  
  
"One down!"  
  
"One down!"  
  
The battle MTs just stood there... good the plan was working. I took aim on the remaining pod and locked one hi-act missile onto it, "dodge this!" I let the missile loose and it streamed straight to its target, the pod did make a good attempt to dodge it but to no avail, the missile plowed right into the pod and it blew into a fiery orange ball. As this was happening the battle MTs managed to collect themselves, they started moving around sporadically and firing into the woods blindly. The new MTs were indeed fast and started zipping around letting loose machine gun rounds every now and then.  
  
"Sorry, Xero I cant hit those new ones."  
  
"Neither can I."  
  
"Its ok, ill get 'em. You guys get those battle MTs before they start getting lucky."  
  
"Gotcha."  
  
I switched back to my missile launcher and turned on my extension. I locked on to each of the three new MTs twice and fired. Nine missiles flew out all together, but the agile MTs dodged them but not by much. "Damnit!" I decided to try it again but this time I flew up into the air a couple hundred yards and locked nine missiles like before. The missiles flew straight down to their targets all reaching their mark. Two of them exploded while the third lost its left arm and a huge chunk out of its core. I saw it turn to the right suddenly and take off.  
  
"I'm going after that one, you guys finish the battle MTs off then stay here. Ill be back."  
  
"Alright."  
  
I quickly boosted off after the fleeing MT. It took me a while but I eventually caught up with it. As I was chasing it I started firing random rifle shots off but few met their mark. I eventually landed a couple lucky shots into the hole on its core and it fell over mid-boost and just laid there. It was completely mangled from hitting the ground and a few trees at such a high speed. I turned around again to go back and join the others when I heard my comm. start crackling.  
  
"Oh shit, they found us!" Said an unknown female voice.  
  
"Who is this? Who's on this line?" Who's on my radio?  
  
"Avoid taking any damage, well need all of ourselves for the attack." Said another unknown voice.  
  
"Who is on this frequency!?" I demanded.  
  
"This is the attack group you are assigned to escort. Please assist, we're being attacked by a small group of new model MTs." The female voice responded.  
  
"Alright hold on we're on our way, just hang on a second." "Morrow, Blaze, you guys all done yet?"  
  
"Yea, we've just finished."  
  
"Ok get your Asses over here! We've got a job to do!"  
  
"We're on our way. Be there in thirty seconds."  
  
"You'd better hurry!"  
  
With that I boosted forward to help out the attack group. When I got there, there were six more of the new MTs attacking a group of two MTs like mine and a lightweight AC. The AC was painted Red and Gold. It had the CROW extensions, a Karasawa part competitor (I didn't know what it was called), a halberd laser blade, and two small missile launchers. All of the attack team were dodging and attacking like real pros.  
  
"I don't know how much longer I can ke- AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" One of the MTs got a full stream of machine gun rounds right through the chest of the MT and probably through the pilot.  
  
"I just lost my left arm. Left leg knee joint is frozen. Missiles off- line. Front chest armor is useless. I need some help here!" A voice yelled over the radio.  
  
"We need backup! Now!!" The female voice exclaimed.  
  
"I'm here, sorry I'm late. I have two more MTs on there way as well."  
  
"Good, get to work. Help us clear these things!"  
  
"I'm on it."  
  
I stopped in mid-air and flew a bit higher, I fired about a dozen shots at the enemy MTs but all in vein, the quick MTs easily dodged my shots. So with that idea effectively shoved, I switched back to my missile launcher and turned on my extension. I locked on to three of the MTs twice like before and let loose nine missiles. All of them hit and all of the MTs that were hit exploded immediately. But I was out of missiles.  
  
"Hey, AC."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Have you tried using your missiles from above yet? They seem to have a hard time dodging missiles from above."  
  
"Sounds good, ill try it, I'm on my way up there." And she started boosting up towards me. But no sooner than she "started" up towards me did she reach me. "Alright, switching to missiles... Full lock, here we go!" And she fired off six missiles at two of the MTs destroying them both.  
  
"Were here." Morrow declared as he and Blaze boosted into the area.  
  
"A bit late but we'll let you two have the remaining MT." I joked, fully knowing that it would piss Morrow off.  
  
"Gee thanks." was the answer Morrow gave me.  
  
As Morrow and Blaze were busy with the final MT, the AC and I had time to land and consider our options.  
  
"Your quite a pilot." She said as we were free falling.  
  
"Your not to bad either, you've gotta tell me how you can move like that."  
  
She laughed. "Ill take you up on that offer sometime."  
  
"Offer? Well whatever." If she wants to think it was an offer than by all means. "Ok well with that settled, lets figure out how we are going to take over this base. We've taken some damage but nothing major. I'm out of missiles though and I've got 200 rifle shots left."  
  
"Well, the original plan was for you three to guard the entrance while we took over the base from the inside. But we lost one unit already and the other MT is heavily damaged."  
  
"Well we might have to go with you then." Blaze suggested.  
  
"She's right, we might have to." I thought for a second. "Do you have a problem with that?" I asked the raven.  
  
"No, that sounds like a good plan to me. But one thing; we do need a guard on the outside to keep from being overwhelmed. And as I'm down to one damaged MT for help, would it be ok for my escort and your escort to guard the entrance?"  
  
"Well there not really my escorts" I responded quickly in response to the growls I heard coming from Blaze and Morrow over the comm. "But I don't think that they would mind guard duty, would you guys?"  
  
"I think we can handle it." Morrow replied.  
  
Blaze agreed also.  
  
"Then I guess it's settled. What's your name?"  
  
"Xero, and yours?"  
  
"My names Angel. Well then, shall we go? According to what I was told, the entrance should be right over here..."  
  
We all followed Angel to the entrance of the base. Once we got there Morrow stopped me.  
  
"Hey man take these, you'll need em' more than Me." he said as he started transferring all of his ammo over to me.  
  
"But aren't you going to need this stuff?"  
  
"Nah, I've still got some rifle shots left. Hey Xero, watch your back in there, not just cause your in an enemy base but cause your walking with a raven in there. I've had some bad luck with ravens before." He stopped talking for a second and was completely silent.  
  
"Ill be fine, not all ravens are bad. Most are pretty nice guys, or girls..."  
  
"I'm not necessarily saying that she's going to stab you in the back Xero, I'm just saying watch yourself. Be careful man."  
  
"I will, don't worry I can take care off myself." "You sound like my mother. You should work on that."  
  
"Ya I know"  
  
"Later." And I walked towards the entrance of the base where Angel was waiting.  
  
"We all ready?" she said as I walked up towards the giant hole in the ground that used to be a steel door.  
  
"Yep, lets go."  
  
And I jumped into the hole. It seemed as if we were falling forever. When we did hit the ground I checked ahead for targets, nothing. We were in a long corridor that stretched further than I could see. The walls were a dark grey and had lamps lining the upper corners of the hallway. And it was also cramped; it was barely wide enough for angel and I to stand side- by-side.  
  
"This is kinda creepy." I said getting a sudden chill.  
  
"Yea it is, I expected them to be all over us once we were in here."  
  
"That's what I was thinking. But I guess I can't complain."  
  
"Nope, neither can I. Well let's go." We started walking down the passageway, which seemed to go forever. "So...what was that about?"  
  
"What about?"  
  
"The little talk your friend had with you."  
  
"O...that, well he gave me almost all his ammo. And he gave me some advice."  
  
"Advice?"  
  
"Yea, he's not a big fan of ravens."  
  
"I see. Why is that?"  
  
"Your a curious one aren't you? Well if you must know, don't tell him that you know this but a raven killed his whole family about two years ago. Actually I believe that it was June 27th. He's goes to the cemetery every year to pay his family a visit."  
  
"Wha- what did- did you say?" She stopped dead.  
  
"They were killed by a raven on June 27th two years ago, and jack was the only survivor. Why?"  
  
"What happened to the raven?"  
  
"Morrow told me that his weapons were damaged from the attack so he just boosted right at him and punched the AC in the chest. Again, why?"  
  
"My father was a raven... He was killed on June 27th two years ago. They said that his AC was punched incredibly hard right in the cockpit. He was killed on impact."  
  
"Wow, that... must've been Morrow. Whoa!! That must've been Morrow!!" It just sunk in.  
  
"I never really liked my father, he always completed his missions no matter what he had to do, and it made him seem kinda ruthless. And he was never really home or spent any time with my mom or me. He was obsessed about the fact that he was a raven. He was always at the garage messing with his AC. The only really nice thing that he ever did for me was that after I told him that I wanted to be a raven as well he made sure that I stayed alive long enough to become one."  
  
"Wow, I'm sorry. But at least you knew your parents... My parents were killed about two weeks after I was born. Nobody knows how or why, but they were both found dead on our front lawn one night. I don't even remember anything about them."  
  
"Xero, I'm so sorry."  
  
"I had no relatives and I didn't even know my real name. So when I got old enough I enlisted to become an MT pilot. When I was signing up the lady asked for my name. I didn't know so I just said zero, but I guess she thought I was talking about a callsign so she put Xero. I never really tried to correct it, thought it fit."  
  
I didn't get an answer. We just kept walking for about ten minutes.  
  
"So what exactly are we supposed to do?"  
  
"Destroy the main AI computer and hold the command section until they surrender."  
  
"Sounds kinda routine. So, do you know where either one of these things is?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Great..."  
  
"Just keep looking."  
  
"Ya ya."  
  
- -- ---On the surface... -- -  
  
"I hate guard duty."  
  
"Then why did you volunteer us for it Blaze?"  
  
"I didn't volunteer us for it, I merely suggested it. And besides, the two of them can do more damage than us three, so best to just leave them to their own devices."  
  
"Stop arguing you two and pay attention." The new guy ordered.  
  
"Who are YOU anyway!?" Morrow inquired.  
  
"My name is Dash. All you need to know."  
  
"Well, fine."  
  
"Stoppit Morrow, pleasure to meet you Dash. You probably already know this but I'm Blaze, my real name is Samantha. And that testy guy over there is jack; his last name is ass sometimes. We call him Morrow."  
  
Dash laughed. He needed it though; it had been a rough day. "Well if we're giving out real names, mine is Daniel Sheins. I hope that you guys can figure out how I got my callsign." A few moments silence went by. "So, are you guys looking to become ravens?"  
  
"Well I am. I'm not so sure about Morrow though, he doesn't like ravens too much."  
  
"Really? Why is that?"  
  
"Its a long story." Morrow had a tone in his voice that said he didn't want to touch on the subject. But Dash didn't catch it.  
  
"I've got time."  
  
Morrow sighed. "Well, to make a long story short; a raven betrayed my family and killed them all." He fell silent.  
  
"Whoa, sorry man I didn't mean to..." Dash fell silent as well.  
  
"Guys get going, we've got company."  
  
Morrow checked his radar and found four blips on it. "Just four! I have a bad feeling about this."  
  
"So do I. Especially since I can't really do anything except provide support fire."  
  
"Ok boys. They're moving in a delta formation. Ill take the two on the right, I still have most ammo and the least damage. Dash, do you think that you could take down the middle left one before he gets too close?"  
  
"Ya, I can do that."  
  
"So I guess ill take the furthest left one?"  
  
"Ya Morrow. That's sounds like a plan to me. Lets move." And Blaze boosted off to the right and Morrow to the left.  
  
Seconds later Morrow was boosting and running through the thick foliage wondering if he had misplaced his bearings, but just as this thought crossed his mind two grenade rounds rocketed through the forest and jack just barely dodged them. "Shit, these are the heavy fire MTs." "Watch it Dash you'll never be able to get these things, ill get yours don't worry about it. Just try not to draw attention to yourself."  
  
"Alright thanks."  
  
Morrow boosted forward to where the shots came from and got his blade heated. His targeting computer went red and he started firing shots at the little red box as fast as he could even though he couldn't see the enemy yet. Once he got a little closer he could see the MT and realized that his shots were doing little more than cosmetic damage. He continued boosting forward and brought his blade to bear. He barely dodged another shot and he snuck a glance at his energy gage and saw that he was almost spent. He decided to risk it cause if he stopped now the MT could pull off a quick shot and kill him while he regained his balance. He flew right at the MT but veered to the left just in front of the MT and slashed his blade diagonally upwards right through its cannons and the front part off the core. He landed behind and to the left of the MT and could hear the MT whine and creak as its cannon arms exploded, taking most of the core with them. Apparently it had tried to fire one last time right as he passed but was to slow and fired when his cannons were already cut in half and melted shut. He stood there for a moment to let his generator cool down then he would have to wait for it to recharge his energy. He decided to start running towards where the other MT should be. As he was running he saw an orange glow in the woods and jumped to the left just in time landing on his side in the ground plants as another volley of grenades flew past. He laid there for a second because it kept him hidden but got up after about thirty seconds 'cause he didn't want to give the enemy too much of a head start towards Dash and the base. He Started running again and as soon as he got close enough and his computer went red he started firing as fast as he could. He only got about 15-20 shots in, "damn, out of ammo. O-well". He kept running and no sooner than he cleared the nearest tree did he nearly get killed as it blew up beside him. He looked to his left and there it was, the other MT. He jumped back and dived behind another tree. That tree promptly blew apart as another set of grenades hit it. "Just another five seconds!" He jumped and dodged but eventually he got to close to a tree that he hid behind and when it got destroyed a large portion of the trunk hit his right arm, leaving it limp. "I LOVE ENERGY!!!" He boosted forward and got his blade out. He brought it up as he dodged another grenade round and stabbed it straight through the center of the MT. "Not so hot now are ya!"  
  
About nine hundred yards away Blaze was doing a bit better. Being a wiz at dodging she was able to quickly close on the first MT and when she did get close enough she brought her blade out and slashed downward diagonally at the MT to her right cutting its left arm and its rear hover jets off, leaving it stuck there. "Where's the other one?"  
  
"Some help here!"  
  
"Dash!" She turned around and went straight for him. She started boosting back towards him but had to stop every now and then to let her energy recharge. When she got there Morrow was already they're trying to distract it but not having much luck. "I'm here!" Blaze boosted straight into the air and switched to her missiles then turned on her missile extension. She got three locks and fired six missiles at the MT. All hit but did little damage. "Sorry to steal your move Xero, but." She moved directly above the enemy and cut her boosters. She dropped right on top of the MT, the combined weight of the both of them was too much for the hover engines of the MT that she was now riding like a bull, dropping it off its hover engines and smashing it to the ground. She got out her blade and started cutting it in half straight down the middle until she started seeing small explosions inside it. Then she jumped off and flew backwards. She watched as the once large MT turned into a violent red and orange ball of fire.  
  
"Boy that was exciting lets never do it again." They all laughed.  
  
- -- ---Back inside the base... -- -  
  
"Xero! Drop!"  
  
I hit the floor and heard two shots fire from Angels lightweight plasma rifle. I dared look up just enough to see what had happened and saw two purple plasma spheres plow into a battle MT on at the end of an intersecting corridor.  
  
"Hurry, get up! We gotta move!" And angel began boosting away.  
  
I didn't even get up. I just pushed-up with my left arm like I was doing a push-up and hit my boosters. I zoomed down the corridor; Angel, all the while getting further ahead of me. As I flew down the hall I saw glancing images of battle MTs coming out of crossing halls.  
  
"We're getting close... Xero, keep up!"  
  
"Ya, I'm trying but you're a lot faster." I was trying to close in on her but I was almost out of energy and she was clearly a lot faster and obviously not anywhere near being out of energy.  
  
"Just do your best. There it is..." and she finally stopped boosting and stepped into a large room.  
  
I stopped right behind her. "Angel?" I guess she was daydreaming because she kinda jumped and she walked into the room.  
  
The corridor had opened up into a huge room lined with computers and other equipment. The walls were literally covered with computers and other such equipment, along with other things that littered the floor. I didn't think that so many computers existed. They were all flashing and beeping, they lit up the room. It was a large room but it had a very low roof. It was quite wide and long though. "I guess they were doing some research."  
  
"Look, on the opposite wall." Angel pointed at a glowing pillar on the other side of the room. And sure enough there was the main computer sitting there bigger than shit. "Lets go."  
  
"Alright." And I began to follow her across the room. We boosted across the room without much difficulty. Computers crush easily when stepped on and don't present much of an obstacle. Once we got to the pillar angel got her laser blade ready and I guess she routed some more power from somewhere because the blade suddenly got three times longer and equally brighter.  
  
"Well... Here goes nothing. I hope this place don't blow or collapse." She said as she raised her blade.  
  
"Wait, what did you-!" But it was too late; she had already sliced through the pillar.  
  
The lights and various screens and images on the pillar began to get duller and duller as it began to lose power. As soon as the whole pillar became black and lifeless the many blips on our radar that were the enemy units stopped moving and started disappearing.  
  
"I think our job just got a lot easier." I was relived as I watched the numerous enemies deactivating on my radar.  
  
"Not a chance. Now that the A.I.'s don't work they'll just send in the manned units."  
  
"O... great. Then lets just hurry and find the command center."  
  
"No need. I just got an e-mail from mirage; they said that they didn't expect that the loss of the main computer to have such a great effect. They've given us permission to end the mission now if we desire."  
  
"I thought all communication was out?"  
  
"I guess the computer was also jamming communications around the base, that's why they use A.I. so much, The A.I. doesn't need to be given orders, it automatically goes to where there's trouble."  
  
Well it sounded good to me. "Well then lets ge-" something cut my transmission short.  
  
"Help me. Please. I can make it worth your while." This strange new voice sounded very panicky.  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
"It doesn't really matter."  
  
I thought for a moment. "Ok... where are you?"  
  
"You're going to help him!?" Angel didn't sound too happy.  
  
"Ya, why not? He's obviously in trouble. We haven't taken much damage or anything and the base is sure to be down on a lot of resources now that the A.I.'s gone, specifically defense."  
  
It was reluctant but; "fine, but we'd better hurry!"  
  
"Alright then, hey where are you?"  
  
"I'm uploading a map right now. The highlighted corridors mark the path to get to me."  
  
"Ok but the highlights end at an entrance to a huge room."  
  
"Yes, that is the cell block. I am in cell G-88."  
  
"Alright we're on our way." And I signaled for angel to follow. "I hope this ain't a trap."  
  
We followed the highlighted parts of the map, traveling quickly through various corridors and rooms. The only real defense we came across were automated turrets, which were probably programmed to shoot at anything that moves when there's an emergency.  
  
"Guess this must be it." I pushed the button to open the door and to no surprise it didn't open. "Um... if u will?" And I motioned for angel to cut open the door with her blade.  
  
"Tuh..." she stepped forward and extended her blade. Even with her long- range blade it still took her a good 5 minutes to cut through the door.  
  
When we finally got in I was amazed at how big this room actually was. It literally dwarfed the room with the computers. It was quite dark, only lit by a few string lights on the ceiling. The cells were arranged in isles and rows that filled the room.  
  
"I guess Kisaragi has quite a long list of enemies." I laughed.  
  
Angel and I split up to look for this guys cell. And I motioned for Angel to go left and I right.  
  
"Remember, its G-88"  
  
"I know." She sounded annoyed.  
  
We were searching for about 10 minutes when I heard, "I found it. Hurry and get over here."  
  
"Alright I'm comin'." And I began boosting over to where I saw her on the radar.  
  
"Here it is."  
  
"Ok, hey we're right outside your door."  
  
I got out of my MT and angel followed suit and got out of her AC. I got my first look at her, she was about 5' 10, she had long jet-black hair with blonde highlights, devil red lipstick, blue eyes, a tight black raven jump- suit and she was in very good shape, as most ravens were. We just stood there and looked each other over for a moment. Then she looked up at me and broke the moment.  
  
"Um... The prisoner."  
  
"O, yea." I was lost in her eyes for a moment.  
  
I walked up to the door and knocked. "That you?"  
  
"Yea I'm in here"  
  
"Well we're coming in so stand back."  
  
I pulled out my glock and shot the electronic lock on the outside of the door. Then I put my gun away and moved to try to pull the door open.  
  
"Hey can you help me pull the door open from your side?"  
  
"Ya, ok."  
  
"Hey angel can you help me?"  
  
All three of us pulling on the door eventually got it to slide open. When we finally got him out, we were in such a hurry we didn't even talk. We just rushed him out of his room then he got into the MT with me and angel got into her AC.  
  
"I thought that you two were both ravens?"  
  
"Nope, not yet but I'm working on it. I'm done with the training and have all the requirements met and exceeded, just need to make an appointment."  
  
"Very good, now that door right over there leads down a hall that goes to a surface access elevator."  
  
"Ok. But I was just wondering, but how do you know all this?"  
  
"Well I used to work here for Kisaragi, but my skills allowed me to advance quite a bit further in the world. So one day I gave my two weeks notice and I went to work for this unnamed corporation that ended up being under the controllers operation. I guess Kisaragi didn't like that because they captured me about a month ago."  
  
"But what do you do?"  
  
"I'm an AC research mechanic"  
  
"O, I see. You guys are pretty valuable."  
  
"We can be."  
  
By the time he had finished his story we had made it to the elevator and we were on our way back to the surface. I was contacting the others so angel started asking her own questions.  
  
"But how were you able to contact us from inside the cell?"  
  
"Remember I told you that my skills could take me further up in the world? Well I am an AC research mechanic who specializes in customizations. And I simply hacked into the prisoner comm. system and used it to contact you guys."  
  
"I see." Angel didn't sound very convinced but the guy hadn't put a gun to my head yet so I wasn't worrying about it much.  
  
When the elevator finally surfaced the others were already waiting for us.  
  
"Lets get the hell out of here." Was the first thing I heard out of the comm. system when we stopped moving up.  
  
"Sounds good to me. Lets go. Angel could you call in the transport?"  
  
"Already did. Be here in five minutes." Everybody just stood there silent for a second. "So, Xero who is this with you?"  
  
"O, um sorry, this is Morrow over here and that is Blaze over there. Guys this is Angel." I forgot about that.  
  
"Nice to meet you." Blaze was always polite. Though we didn't hear anything from Morrow.  
  
"Well then, this is dash. Dash, this is Xero."  
  
"Nice to meet you."  
  
"You to dash."  
  
"There's the transport. Lets go."  
  
"Why are you so uptight all of a sudden?" I asked angel who seemed to be in quite a hurry.  
  
"I'm not uptight! Just get in the plane."  
  
"Ok, whatever."  
  
We all got in the plane and had a silent ride back except for the mechanic and myself.  
  
"When do you plan to make the jump to AC?"  
  
"As soon as I can. I've already applied but the cortex hasn't gotten back to me with a date yet."  
  
"Oh, I see. Well what about the other three pilots that are with you?"  
  
"Well one of them I'm sure about, that's Blaze. She can't wait to be a raven. The other two I'm not so sure about. One of them doesn't have much of a soft spot for ravens and the other I don't even know, I just know his name."  
  
"Ok, well you be sure to make it to AC as soon as possible. When you do ill contact you."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I have to thank you guys somehow right? And remember how I said I was an AC research mechanic, I can make a few "adjustments" to your ACs."  
  
"ACs"? I only plan on buying one."  
  
"Ill do it for each of your friends too. They helped too right?"  
  
"Ya they helped with the mission but the mission wasn't a rescue."  
  
"I know that but they proved themselves capable pilots that should be able to handle the improvements that I can make to your ACs."  
  
BEEP... Prepare to land. Welcome back team.  
  
"How did you see..."  
  
"You'll see what I mean." He said, cutting my question short.  
  
And he opened the hatch to the MT and got out, closing the hatch behind him. As soon as the transport door opened he jumped out and walked away. The base security just walked by him. But I guess that could be expected, he looked exactly like a mechanic, grease and all.  
  
BEEP... Please exit the transport.  
  
We all got out of the transport and went our separate ways. I was surprised to hear my communications line activate.  
  
"I'll see you later..."  
  
I turned around and say angel walking backwards away from me waving. As soon as I saw her she turned away and boosted towards the AC garage. 


	2. The Raven Test

Chap 2 The Raven Test  
  
I walked my MT into the garage and asked the supervising mechanic to get someone to repair it. After this was done I checked in with the garage supervisor.  
  
"That was a really excellent job you did out there Xero."  
  
"thanks, but that raven did most of the work."  
  
"Actually I just got a check-in call from her and she said the same thing about you."  
  
"Really? Huh..."  
  
"Aww well I'm glad that you guys came back in one piece. I honestly thought that there would be more casualties... Sorry."  
  
"O, well that's what everyone thinks when you send more MTs in."  
  
"Well I guess your right. Ok that's enough of that; the credits will be transferred into your account tonight. Why don't you go on home and rest, you've done more than enough for one day."  
  
"Ok, then ill see you later."  
  
"Bye."  
  
It was a long ride back to my house. When I got home I took a shower and checked the clock.  
  
"Damn, its only 1:30 in the afternoon. I can't sleep this early. Hell, on Sundays this is when I wake up!" So I decided to check my e-mail and watch some TV I decided to check my mail first so I went to my desk in the living room and switched on my laptop. About thirty seconds later I got into my mail. "God, they finally get totally rid of "snail-mail" but they still can't get rid of spam." I continued checking my mail sorting the credit card applications from the free porn offers. "Hey, this looks interesting." And indeed it was, it was a new email from the cortex that I got no more than twenty minutes ago.  
  
It read, "To Xero, we here at the global cortex have just received the report from your supervisor regarding your last mission. To say the least we are very impressed. You showed excellent leadership skills as well as battle strategies and tactics that only most veteran commanders are blessed with, and you came up with them in a moments pause. Not to mention your incredible fighting ability." "Damn, did I really do that good?" "And so we have finally come to the conclusion that you and your teammates should be inducted into the raven fold as soon as possible. We have come up with the 16 of June pro-GD year 235 as the date for your raven test. Be at the garage in Zenith city at 8:00 AM, don't be late. We wish you the best of luck. And we look forward to working with you as a raven."  
  
"WOO-HOO!!!" Finally they get a date set. Zenith city, geez that's like forever away. A good four or five hour drive. Better find somebody to go with me. Wonder if anybody will? No sooner had I thought this did the phone ring.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Xero? Oh hi its blaze."  
  
"Oh hi, what's up?"  
  
"Well I just got this email from the cortex and they said that I did really good on that last mission. And they set a date for my raven test on June 16, and I was wondering if you would like to go with me, its a long drive ya-no? Oh and the two other guys called and told me to ask you too, they got approved for the test as well."  
  
"Who else?"  
  
"Dash and Morrow."  
  
"Oh them duh, hey let me guess, Zenith city?"  
  
"Ya, how did you know?"  
  
"I got approved for the test too. Ya ill take you guys. We'll all go, make a road trip out of it."  
  
"That's great! Cool, well I better call the others and let 'em know."  
  
"Alright later."  
  
"Bye."  
  
"Well that's a nice turnout, we're all on the same test. I wonder how the cortex is going to pull that off? I guess ill find out in a couple of days. Now its time for some TV"  
  
So I walked over to the kitchen, got a sandwich ready and went back to the living room to get brain washed. After about an hour of nothing I decided to turn it off. "There's never anything good on anymore." Ok well I better go to my AC training device and get some work done.  
  
"To the mall!" It may sound funny but the arcade in the mall had some pretty impressive simulators that, I was told, perfectly simulated an AC cockpit. And believe it or not there were some talented kids down there. So I got in my car and headed to the mall in my town. Though it was more like a mini-mall with next-to-no stores.  
  
Ten minutes later I was at the mall, another three minutes and I was in the arcade. It was your standard arcade, almost every game was a virtual reality simulator and then you also had your standard arcade video games. There were three AC simulators. They always had a long waiting line for each one. How it worked was the first person to win stays in and fights the next person and the next and they keep going until they lose and the won that beats them gets to fight the next person and the next etc... There is no limit to how long you can stay in the simulator that I know of.  
  
So I got in line and waited until it was my turn and I got in. It took about half-an-hour to get to the simulators. The only really bad thing about the simulators is that you have to play in a standard issue AC but that still isn't bad. I got all strapped in and started battling the current "champion". I immediately boosted straight at him and started firing wild shots at him. When I got closer I boosted straight into the air and came down right on top of him, crushing his legs. I fired up my blade and drove it down straight through his head. Then I boosted off and back while I fired three shots into his core. When I landed he stumbled backwards a bit then his head exploded and he fell over. I defeated 32 more people until I finally gave up and let this 11 year old kid Beat me so I could leave. I was getting kinda bored as you could imagine.  
  
I got home at around 8:30 and decided I could try to sleep; I was tired now, somewhat.  
  
When I got up the next morning I found my computer blinking, which meant I had new mail. I decided to see what it was so I turned it on and check it before I went to work. Which was a good thing because when I opened up my inbox I found an e-mail from Charlie (my supervisor). It read:  
  
"To Xero, I am very happy to hear that you have finally been scheduled for a raven test. So knowing that your test is in two days I'm going to give you the next few days off until your test. I am also giving the same "rest days" if you will to Blaze, Morrow and Dash. I wish you the best of luck and hope that the next time we meet you will be a raven. Best of luck, Charlie Christian"  
  
Well that's cool, days off. Usually you have to screw up to get "days off". Oh well I'm not complaining.  
  
The next two days were uneventful. On the day before the test we all decided that everyone should stay at my house for the night because we would have to get up at the very asscrack of dawn. So on the 16th of June we all piled into my truck at 3:00 o'clock in the morning and started off.  
  
It was an "interesting" ride to say the least. We were all arguing about the best AC designs and how we thought that we were going to be tested, we had never heard of a four-way raven test before.  
  
When we got to the garage in Zenith city we were directed toward the training center. We parked the car, got out and stretched, and then we went to the main test office.  
  
We walked through the automatic doors into a somewhat grey room with the Cortex's orange emblem on the floor. There were two doors that led out of the office, one on each side. The office was void except for a couch on one side and the receptionist's desk on the other. We walked up to the desk. The receptionist was a young woman who looked about 23. She had straight black hair and brown eyes. She was sitting in a chair behind the desk and was wearing a navy blue business outfit.  
  
"Good morning."  
  
"Good morning. Can I help you?"  
  
"We are here to take the raven test scheduled for today."  
  
"Oh, your here right on time. The supervising raven just checked in. Alrighty then, can I have your suggested callsigns please?"  
  
"Xero."  
  
"Morrow."  
  
"Blaze."  
  
"Dash."  
  
"Thank you. Now may I have, in the same order, your real names?"  
  
"Xero."  
  
"Umm... Sir may I have your real name?"  
  
"That is my name, and also my callsign."  
  
"Oh, I apologize. Continue please."  
  
"Jack Biggs."  
  
"Samantha Jull."  
  
"Daniel Sheins."  
  
"Thank you. Now through that door is the AC garage. Normally we would have two potential ravens participate in a mission. But since there are four of you, we will have all of you fight a large group of MTs at once. You will still be evaluated by a raven however."  
  
"My I ask which raven will be observing us?"  
  
"Of course, just a second... Oh yes a raven named "Bull"."  
  
"Who is that?"  
  
"I don't know much about him really, but he is ranked A-4 in the arena so you guys better behave yourselves.  
  
"Oh. Huh ok."  
  
Now if you will please enter the garage the raven will assist you with the rest of the test." The receptionist said as she gave us all nametags. And directed us towards the left door.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"Good luck."  
  
With that done we headed through the door on the left and into the AC garage. As soon as we walked in we were greeted by a friendly hello that came from "Bull" who was standing in front of four standard issue ACs, his AC was behind them. His AC was a large mid-weight that was painted green and black and its head was painted red. The only weapons it had were a powerful, short range laser blade and the Karasawa.  
  
"Hello all of you. Before we get started I think it's a good idea for us to all get to know each other. I'm bull incase you didn't know. May I have your names as well please?"  
  
"I'm Xero."  
  
"Morrow."  
  
"Blaze."  
  
"Dash."  
  
"Alright then with that settled lets go over what is going to happen here today. First of all you are each going to get into one of the ACs before you. After this is accomplished, I hope that you all survive..." he kinda laughed a bit. Though none of us did.  
  
He's got a sense off humor, he can't be that bad. Right?  
  
"You will be taken to a desert area right outside of town, take the time enroute to familiarize yourself with the controls. When we arrive there will be 40 MTs waiting for you."  
  
"40! Isn't that alot!?"  
  
"Not really." He continued, "You will all attack at the same time. You are not assigned any certain targets but you are each required to take out ten MTs. Once you destroy ten then you will disengage and move out of the Battle area. You are NOT to destroy more or less than ten targets each, we don't want anyone getting off easy here. Any questions?"  
  
No answer.  
  
"Alright then, lets get going."  
  
I got to the far right AC, (though it doesn't matter, there all the same) and Morrow got to the next and then Blaze and dash. We walked up to the ACs and a small door opened at the back of the core. Out of the door lowered a small cord with a loop at the end.  
  
"Now don't hold on to the loop and expect to be pulled up." Bull quickly instructed looking at morrow and I, who were picking up the cord and wrapping it around our arms.  
  
Morrow and I both let go of the loops and dropped the cord.  
  
"Put your foot into the loop like so, leaving you "standing" on the cord then grab hold of the cord and ride up." Bull managed to say between everyone's laughing at jack and I.  
  
Once inside the AC we put on the jump suit that was hanging inside the cockpit. After I put on the suit a million tiny lasers shot out of the walls and started tracing my body. After the lasers were done two arm braces, two leg braces, two chest straps and a helmet came out of the walls of the cockpit in their respective places. I put them on and they seemed to fit perfectly. As soon as I tightened the last strap the floor gave way and became the bottom of the cockpit leaving me floating there. The cockpit was now a perfect sphere. "Arcade, tuh, perfect cockpit simulator my ass."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Oh, nothing." No way I was going to admit to anybody that I trained in the arcade at the mall, especially the A-4 ranked raven.  
  
"Lets go. Follow me." And we all followed bull out of the garage. As soon as we were outside I saw bull boost straight up into the air. We all practiced maneuvering around in the ACs and figuring out how to work all of the functions, which wasn't very difficult being as it followed your every move perfectly. On the end of each arm brace was a glove, inside each glove were buttons for each finger. And they all had different functions. One controlled the boosters, one the overboost, one for each off the back weapons etc...  
  
We had been traveling for about 45 minutes and I would say we were about ten miles outside of the city. When bull came over the comm.  
  
"Ok, everybody stop what your doing and line up left to right."  
  
We did just as ordered. And there they were, all forty battle MTs lined up in five rows of eight. The battlefield was completely flat with no cover at all. It was indeed a desert area, the sun beat down on the ground and I could see the heat waves resonating from the golden, sand covered ground.  
  
"Ok guys, being as 40 MTs are quite alot for 4 rookie ravens we have set the MTs to only attack those of you who have fired first. Giving each of you one free shot. So lets say Morrow here fires first, the MTs will only attack him. Then when the next person fires the MTs will attack them also. And as I said before: you are not to destroy more or less than ten each. I will observe from a distance, but I will NOT help under any circumstances. I will also keep score for you guys, it will probably get pretty hectic, and the last thing that you will need to be thinking about is how many you've taken out. Everyone understand the rules of the game?"  
  
"Got it." Blaze was the only one to respond.  
  
"Then everyone fire at will." After he had said everything he overboosted away to quite a distance.  
  
"Here we go!"  
  
I turned on my F.C.S. And targeted the head of the nearest MT. I fired right away, destroying its head.  
  
"Xero: one down." Bull announced over the com.  
  
As soon as I fired the MTs started moving; firing missiles and chain gun rounds everywhere.  
  
"Dash: one down. Morrow: one down."  
  
I didn't have time to watch what others were doing so I didn't try. I flew into the air and locked one missile onto another MT and fired it off. As it was homing in on its target I dodged another six missiles from the right and started firing rifle shots at the MT. I hit it with five shots bye the time the missile got to it, and once it did the MTs upper half exploded.  
  
"Xero: two down, Morrow: three down, Dash: two down, Blaze one-err three down."  
  
One to three, wow that's one hell of a shot. I landed on the ground and immediately overboosted towards another MT and used my blade to quickly cut its legs off at the knee as I flew by. It fell on the ground unable to move. I then turned and boosted to my left to avoid a cloud of chain-gun shots that flew by me destroying another MT behind me. I kept boosting straight and used my blade on another MT, immobilizing it the same way as the last.  
  
"Morrow: six, Xero: five, Blaze: four, Dash: five."  
  
I then jumped behind the MT I had just immobilized and used it for cover from another wave of chain-gun shots. While behind it I locked on another missile. Then I jumped into the air and boosted straight at another MT, as I was flying at it I fired the missile and it plowed into the left arm of the MT destroying the chain gun but at the same time it fired from its other chain gun and hit me right in the core. I did a damage check and there were only a couple big dents. As I was doing the check I started firing a lot of rifle shots at it, eventually destroying it. I then turned to the right just in time to get hit by four missiles; they destroyed the radar on my back, and my missile interception on the core. I jumped into the air again and looked around, I saw an MT walk right under me so I did my favorite thing and dropped straight down. I fired a few shots at it before I landed, as soon as I landed on it I dropped a few more meters, telling me that its legs had been crushed. I drove my blade deep into the center of the MT and brought it back making a huge hole through the MT. Then I jumped of and it exploded before I could fire at it anymore.  
  
"Xero: seven, Morrow: ten. Disengage Morrow. Dash: eight, Blaze, eight."  
  
"Got that, disengaging. Good luck guys." Morrows departing words and he overboosted to meet bull.  
  
"Later morrow." Then I quickly turned my attention back to my enemy, boosting straight ahead and coming up slightly I ended up right above and in front of another MT. I got out my blade and slashed downward as I fell, slicing it in half vertically. I turned to the left and fired four shots into another MT.  
  
"Dash: ten, Blaze: ten, Xero: nine. Dash, Blaze pull out."  
  
"Roger."  
  
"Roger."  
  
Blaze and dash then boosted away from the battle, leaving me with the remaining MT  
  
"One left." I went to check my radar and when I realized that it was gone I started scanning visually. I got hit in the back by two missiles, I turned to face my target and saw a strange looking unit. It was twice as tall as me, it had a core that was tall and thin, I couldn't tell if it went back very far. It had long arms that came out the sides of the core and they stretched to its knees. The legs came from the sides of the bottom of the core and had spikes come out of the front of the upper thigh and lower leg, it also had spikes on each of the feet and three out of the center of the core in a triangle formation. And it had strange weapons in both hands that I couldn't recognize, nothing else. And it also looked as if it was breathing. As soon as I saw it, it disappeared.  
  
"SHIT!!!" I took another hit in the back, this time it destroyed my missile launcher and when I turned around I saw the same thing, a strange looking unit that disappeared as soon as I spotted it. But this time the image blew away like sand in the wind to reveal the final MT standing there. I stood there for a moment thinking about what had just happened and awoke only when bull came over the comm.:  
  
"Are you aborting the mission?"  
  
"No, no, of course not. Just day-dreaming." I boosted straight at it firing my rifle at it the whole time. When I got close enough I brought my blade out and stabbed it straight through the center of the MT. Then I took a few steps back thrust my rifle into the smoking hole that my blade made and started firing off more shots. After I saw shots coming out the back I got my blade out again and slashed straight down; slicing it clean in half. I took a few more steps back and it blew up right in front off me.  
  
"Excellent job, all of you." Bull said and he signaled for us to follow him back to the garage.  
  
"Thanks." But my mind kept wondering back to what I had just seen. I was completely silent for the rest of the trip back until we got to the garage.  
  
"Alright well everyone park your ACs where you found them and hop out." Then he looked at me. "Or whatever's "left" of your AC."  
  
That's when I noticed that my AC was by far the most damaged. "Do I suck that much?"  
  
He laughed at me again, "no your not, the others were just more focused than you."  
  
"Gee, thanks." they wouldn't have been half as focused as they had been if they would've seen what I saw.  
  
"Well then, we all ok? Then lets go back into the office and get your raven licenses all sorted out."  
  
We followed bull back into the office where we came from. When we walked in I saw angel sitting on the couch.  
  
"Hey! What are you doing here?"  
  
"I was waiting for you guys to get back. I came as soon as I saw who was taking the raven test today." "So, bull, were they good little boys and girls? Hmmm?"  
  
"They were, but that one I was worried about." He said, pointing at me.  
  
"Hey! Stoppit! I passed didn't I!" everyone was laughing at me again. "That's not cool you guys."  
  
"Aww, were just kidding. Quit your wining'." Jack was having way too much fun with this.  
  
"Damn you all!!!" I had to laugh at myself on that one. I tried my best to look mad shaking my fist at them. We all laughed a bit harder.  
  
"Well guys, its been fun but I got better things to do than baby-sit a bunch of newbie ravens." And bull turned and walked through the door on the right.  
  
"Alright bull, thanks for watching them. Ill take them from here." Angel yelled after him. He threw his arm up in the air showing he heard as the doors closed behind him.  
  
After the receptionist managed to stop laughing at me she looked up at us all standing at the counter "whew, ok. I need to get the licenses sorted out. While you were taking your test I ran all your names and callsigns through the system, everything checked out. One more thing, do any of you want to be registered in the arena?"  
  
We all said no. I wanted to get used to being a raven for a while before I registered. I didn't know if that was everyone else's reason as well but... God only knows.  
  
"So without further adew I give you your licenses." And the lady behind the desk handed the cards out to their respective owners. "Now is the fun part; you each need to design your ACs. Down that hall is the shop for this garage; we have the best AC parts stock anywhere. They'll have what you want."  
  
"Thank you. Can we take our ACs home today?"  
  
"If you don't mind waiting for them to be assembled. It takes about four hours to assemble an AC from the ground up. You can wait in the raven rec. room while you wait if you like."  
  
"Well I think that's pretty fast so I'm gonna wait here and let them put my AC together."  
  
"Since you're the ride, I guess we're all staying." Blaze didn't sound too happy but too bad. I waited five years to pilot an AC and damnit, I'm gonna take mine home today. If they don't like it, they can lump it.  
  
"Com'on, com'on. Hurry uuup!" Angel was jumping up and down like some hyperactive high school freshman.  
  
"What the hell are you so excited about? Your acting like a little kid that wants to go to the toy store." Angel was pulling on morrows arm now.  
  
"Well, I have to make sure that you guys get good ACs don't I?"  
  
"Huh, whatever." Morrow was quite annoyed.  
  
We all walked to the shop. "Hey-ya chief, what's your name?" I asked the store manager, trying to be nice.  
  
"Wha- oh, oh ya my names Chris. You need a catalogue?" He sounded kinda surprised that I asked for his name.  
  
"Yea Chris, actually we need. One-two-three-four catalogues please."  
  
"Sure here ya go." And he handed us each a small video-pad.  
  
We spent the better part of two hours choosing our parts. I decide on a medium weight AC for the armor and the speed, but it had heavy legs that had been enhanced for increased stability. The legs may have been heavyweights but they were lighter than some of the mid-weights. When I went to click on my selection however angel came over and jumped on my arm. "Oops, oh-well I hope I got it right." I don't know what I clicked on.  
  
"Hey Chris, I'm all ready."  
  
"All right, just tell me your body components now. You can get your weapons when they're done putting it together."  
  
"K, here you go." And I handed him the vid-pad with the desired parts selected.  
  
"Ill have the garage crew get right on it."  
  
The others all did the same shortly after me.  
  
"Ok well it'll be quite awhile before they'll be ready. You can all wait in the nest until there done if you like."  
  
"The nest?"  
  
"Its the rec. room for ravens. When we don't really have anything to do we can go in there. That's also where you can check the arena standings, any info on other ravens if you like and check for any missions."  
  
"Thank you angel, you really saved me a lot of breath." Chris said in response to angels interruption.  
  
"Ha! Your welcome. C'mon lets go."  
  
"Later Chris."  
  
"Ya see-ya."  
  
We went out the door on the right and continued on through the corridor until we came to an elevator. "What floor please?" A computerized voice said as we stepped in.  
  
"The nest please."  
  
"Very well."  
  
We all stepped out of the elevator and into the nest. From where we stood dash pointed out the pool tables in the far corner and we all followed him to the tables and played about four games. Dash ruled the pool table. After that we sat and watched some TV; I tried to get them to watch the Fairly OddParents but for some reason they all insisted on watching the news.  
  
"Why the news? Nothing good ever happens anymore. For instance: why can't they ever report a drug deal that went well? "Here's your money." "Here's your crack, thank you." I just don't understand it." They all laughed at me, again.  
  
I fell asleep on blaze's shoulder and she just let me lay there I guess because I don't remember waking up until I heard our names being called over the intercom, "calling; Xero, Dash, Morrow, blaze. Your ACs are completed. Please report to the shop."  
  
"Yes lets go I have to inspect your ACs."  
  
"Jesus angel..."  
  
So we all followed a hopping Angel back to the shop. "Hey, Chris. How'd everything go?"  
  
"Well, everything except your AC, Xero. We had a bit of a problem attaching your ACs legs to the rest of it."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Well it was a bit overweight with the light-weight reverse-joint legs that you picked out."  
  
"I didn't pick out light-legs."  
  
"Yes you did, you picked out the first set of reverse-jointed legs."  
  
"Those little things? No I didn't. I picked out the heavy-weights with the advanced stability, I needed it with high the overboost and boosters I had equipped."  
  
"Well you must have clicked the wrong model on the pad that I gave you cause I have it right here. Weren't you looking at the hologram of your AC?"  
  
"Well not really, I was kinda busy trying to get this chick off my back." I pointed at Angel and she stuck her tongue out at me. "Grow up. Your just like a little kid." This time she waved the bird at me. "That's more like it. Well anyway how long will it take you guys to put the right legs on?"  
  
"At least an hour. Sorry but we have to disconnect the current ones which means we have to disconnect all the cables holding it up." He laughed a bit. "Ok well if you want those legs we can put them on but like I said, it will take awhile."  
  
"Aright well, get going on it then. Ill go back to the nest and wait."  
  
"Ok. With that settled, the rest of you can follow me and I will show you to your new ACs."  
  
"Well I'm sorry Xero but I'm gonna head home. It's been fun and all but I kinda wanna test out my AC."  
  
"Ya sorry buddy but I'm with Blaze. Wanna test out my AC then head home. Dash, you in?"  
  
"Ya sure I'll test out my AC but then I can't go home. Vie got some business to tend to."  
  
"Business huh." Morrow slapped him jokingly on the shoulder. "What are you cooking?"  
  
"Well actually it's none of your business."  
  
"Hey there will be no fighting in my shop. Now if you little boys can manage to get along, I can show you three to your ACs to select your weapons." And he ushered them to the door at the side of the desk. "Xero, ill be back shortly to see that legs you want. Please wait here." And he closed the door behind him. Leaving me alone in the room with Angel.  
  
"So do you really think I'm that annoying?" Angel said after about two minutes to break the awkward silence.  
  
"Well not really. I think that you act kinda immature sometimes."  
  
"Really. Hmm. So you think that I should "grow up" huh?"  
  
"A little bit, sometimes." I snuck a sideways glance at her. "But then again it can be good to have a light personality around sometimes."  
  
"I see." "So what are you going to do? Are you going to sit in the nest for another hour?"  
  
"Well I don't really have much of a choice now do I. Unless you have a better idea."  
  
"Well... It is 1:30; do you wanna get some lunch? I know this great Chinese restaurant downtown."  
  
"I'm not really hungry."  
  
"C'mon I can't go alone. I don't have enough credits."  
  
"Ha-ha, nice try. I know as well as you do that most to all ravens are absolutely ROLLING in it. Most have more credits than they now what to do with."  
  
"Fine, you caught me." She giggled a bit. "I've got plenty of money. But I really want you to go. Everyone else left, I can't leave you all alone, I'd feel bad. C'mon, please. hey listen, Ill buy. How does that sound? Huh?" I was expecting her to jump to her knees and beg in a sec. God id pay to see that.  
  
"Ya alright ill go. But I can buy my own food thank you very much. Believe it or not I have a load of credits too. How do you think I'm paying for all of these parts? I may not have known my parents but they did leave me a bank full. We just gotta wait for Chris to get back so that I can tell him what I want my AC to stand on."  
  
"Very well then. We'll go to Chu's Chinese. It's really good, trust me."  
  
"Oh, boy. I can hardly wait." I rolled my eyes, hoping Angel didn't catch it. 


	3. Finally a Raven

Chap 3 Finally a Raven  
  
"where are the warriors!?"  
  
"um... Sir, we just received a message from the two drones that were sent out earlier." seeing the aggravated look on his superiors eyes the soldier quickly continued. "they have reported that they did see the target and the target is moving along as expected sir, But they also reported to have been spotted by the target."  
  
"WHAT!" the officer's face grew red. "we cannot afford any mishaps in this operation! Being spotted prematurely by our target is one such mistake and is therefore unacceptable!" he inhaled. "the target cannot know we are tailing him or he will heighten his awareness and sharpen his skills and senses further if he expects something to happen."  
  
"yes sir."  
  
--------------------------------------------  
  
After sitting there for about ten more minutes, Chris came through the door. "ok, now Xero show me the legs that you did want." and he handed me the same vid-pad that had a hologram of my AC on it.  
  
"you guys put those on there! O my God..." i was laughing at my AC which was a mid-weight with mid arms, head, and core. Plus it had the most powerful boosters and a heavy generator. All standing on tiny little reverse-joint legs. "here let me help you." and i ran down the list of legs until i found the correct set and selected them. "here you go." and i handed him back the vid-pad.  
  
"oh! Those ones, well, that makes sense. Ya those will work great. Alright well, i will get the garage crews working on that. come back in an hour or two."  
  
"o, and could you put the double weapon clips on those legs for me?"  
  
"umm ya, sure."  
  
"thanks, I'll c'ya later."  
  
"C'mon Xero, lets go." angel sounded much more serious now.  
  
"I'm coming." and i walked out the door after angel.  
  
We walked out of the office and into the parking lot where i followed angel to a small sports car that was painted red with gold stripes like her AC, except the AC was camoflauge style.  
  
"Jump in" she told me as she catapaulted herself over the door into the driver seat.  
  
"Is it safe?"  
  
"What safe?"  
  
"Your driving." i laughed a bit as i launched myself over the door and into the passenger seat. She was glaring at me, if looks could kill...  
  
"just shuttup and put your seat-belt on."  
  
"Hey, sorry. I was just joking."  
  
"your the only one laughing." i hate that line.  
  
I got settled in the car and buckled my seat-belt. which was a good idea because as soon as i got the belt on she floored it and the little car went from 0-70 in 3 seconds; in a parking lot!  
  
We got on the freeway and headed North. We had been on the freeway for about ten minutes.  
  
"So, whats your favorite food?"  
  
"Me?" well of course you, you jackass your the only one in the car. "i like italian food the most. But chinese is pretty good to."  
  
"well Xero, there are a few good italian resturants"  
  
"no no, its fine. i like chinese a lot too. Its not like i mind."  
  
"well, ok. anyway, my favorite is chinese food. You probably could have guessed."  
  
"well i thought that you would be more into McDonalds or something like that."  
  
"sorry, i may be white but im not into that kind of gourmet food."  
  
We both laughed.  
  
about half an hour later we made it to the resturant. It was an oriental building that was the same on all sides. The walls were painted red and the roof was green and had large tassles hanging from the corners. The tassles were red and had many green strings hanging from the center of it. The way that the building was designed makes it difficult to find the entrance.  
  
After about ten minutes of searching we finally found the door.  
  
"i've heard a lot of good things about this place, the food is supposed to be just excellant."  
  
We headed inside and seated ourselves at a small table on the wall at the back of the resturant. We picked up the menus already on the table and i started scanning the page.  
  
"can i take your order?" the waiter appeared out of nowhere. He had long black pants, a green overshirt and a red undershirt. His hair was a dark brown and done back very nicely.  
  
"O, yes, sorry. Ill have a large order of sweet and sour soup." Angel looked at me and kinda wispered. "i want some to bring home."  
  
"ok, don't know why you need my permission or why the big secret but ok." "And ill have the mu-shu pork please."  
  
"alright then, thank you. It'll be ready in just a moment." and he departed.  
  
"ya-right." and seeing the scouling look on Angels face i quickly added: "they always say that!"  
  
"whatever." we sat in silence for about ten minutes. "hey, i got the footage that bull relayed to me as you guys were on your test."  
  
"so?"  
  
"myself and about ten other ravens with nothing to do watched the battle from the nest."  
  
"And?"  
  
"well, we were wondering why you stopped fighting at the end?"  
  
"i stopped fighting?" i was playing dumb; i still wasn't sure if i wanted to tell anybody about what happened. My gut felling told me that i didn't want to bring anybody else into it. I don't know why that feeling was so strong either.  
  
"when you got down to the last MT you stopped and just stood there staring off into space. It kinda looked like you were giving up. A lot of the other ravens that were watching thought that you got spooked and freaked out."  
  
"they think i got scared huh? How could they think i got scared? I have been an MT pilot for almost 5 years!"  
  
"i don't know Xero, but you were standing there and you started shaking like crazy."  
  
"I was shaking? I don't remember shaking at all. Thats really weird."  
  
"ya, it- O, the food! Im starving!"  
  
"well, it couldn't have been that intresting if food makes you drop the subject." i kinda muttered under my breath.  
  
"what was that?"  
  
"nothing. Lets eat."  
  
We ate our lunch in record-breaking time. once we finished we went up to the front desk to pay.  
  
"table 6 correct?" the oriental woman at the register asked us.  
  
I looked back at our table and checked the number on the little plastic card on the end, "uh, ya thats right."  
  
"the soup is 7 credits. And the mu-shu pork is 6 credits." i handed the lady my cash card and she swiped it through the computer and handed it back.  
  
"thank you, have a nice day. Come again." And she walked back into the kitchen.  
  
"wha-! O well, i guess i just bought you lunch."  
  
"sorry."  
  
"No big deal."  
  
"alri-"  
  
RING-RING  
  
"O, my phone." "hello?"  
  
"is this Xero?"  
  
"yes it is."  
  
"this is Chris, im calling to tell you that your legs have been replaced and its ready for you to pick up."  
  
"sweet, thanks man. Perfect timing, ill be there in about 45 minutes."  
  
"alright, later."  
  
"c'ya." I clipped the phone back and placed it back in my pocket.  
  
"Was that chris?"  
  
"Ya, he says my AC is done. Lets go and pick it up."  
  
"ya. We can fight."  
  
"What!? us fight each other?"  
  
"well, in the simulator. you can download your AC designs into the simulator and the computer creates it in the simulation."  
  
"O. that sounds pretty cool."  
  
"Ya, its a lot of fun. Especially when you beat them. Or, more accuratly, when i beat you."  
  
"Hey, just 'cause your a girl doesn't mean im gonna let you win."  
  
"ya... right."  
  
We left the resturant and got back in the car and started driving back towards the garage.  
  
"hey, I wanna tell you somethin'." angel was yelling so i could hear her over the wind blasting through the convertable.  
  
"what?" i was now yelling back.  
  
"i, just wanted to let you know not to get mad if some of the other ravens start to... umm, look down on you or talk down to you."  
  
"why would they do that?"  
  
"because when we were watching the video of your test; when you started tripping out i heard some really rude comments about you. They thought that you were really scared and freaking out."  
  
"aww, man. Thats gonna suck."  
  
"probably, sorry but thats what it looked like."  
  
"so you were making the comments too huh?!"  
  
"no no, i would never. Im just saying that its not really fair for you to get mad at them when they don't know what they're talkng about."  
  
"its not fair for them to insult me when they don't know what they're talking about!"  
  
"THEYRE WAS NO WAY TO TELL!!! YOU LOOKED LIKE YOU WERE FREAKING OUT!"  
  
"whatever." neither of us said another word about it for the rest of the way back to the garage.  
  
When we got back we jumped out of the car and started walking towards the office that we entered first. Right before we entered the door angel spun around, "hey, im sorry about the incident in the car, i really am."  
  
"its ok. Its just frustrating when your brand new class of piers starts making assumptions before they even know you."  
  
"i can understand that. Peace?"  
  
i put my hand out for a shake.  
  
she kinda looked at my hand like i was a dumbass then she shook my hand. "peace." it was then that i realized that women dont usually take handshakes as a peace offering. But it was to late so o-well.  
  
"cool, so then our little battle is back on then?"  
  
"it was never off. But i probably would have fought better if i was still mad at you."  
  
she shook her head. "tuh."  
  
"lets go get my AC."  
  
we continued through the doors and waved at the receptionist as we passed. We arrived at the shop and chris was waiting at the counter reading a magazine on new AC parts.  
  
"Hey chris. Is my AC ready to go?"  
  
"Oh, hi. yes it is. Follow me and we shall suit you up and pick your weapons."  
  
"alrighty then." i turned around to angel. "are you coming?"  
  
"i guess." angel shrugged and followed chris and i through the back door.  
  
We walked through a few different doors and out onto a bridge that spanned the hanger. "did we get your paint job right?"  
  
"what? I never told you about paint." i looked across the garage hangar and saw my AC. It had a white and gold paintjob with blue outlines. It looked beautiful.  
  
"Xero?"  
  
"wha- O!" i was standing there with my mouth hanging open; gawking at my AC.  
  
"hahaha. we just took the paintjob from your MT. well, lets get your weapons sorted out."  
  
"cool." we followed chris down a flight of steps to the ground floor and through another door that led out of the hanger.  
  
"ok, now here is the weapon storage bay." he flicked a switch on the wall behind us and the whole area beamed with bright light coming from the walls and ceiling. "on that console over there is a readout on every part that we have in stock. Just step up and select."  
  
"Ok." it only took me about three minutes to decide. mainly because i had already chosen the parts and weapons long before. I had an 8-lock, hi-act missile launcher on my back; along with a lightweight laser cannon, and in my right and left hands i had 72 round solid shell shotguns.  
  
"good choices. Ill have them moved to your AC. You can equip them yourself."  
  
"ok... I dont really know how but ill try."  
  
"you'll figure it out." he led us out of the weapons bay back into the hanger with my AC. I stood there and admired it. within minutes ceiling cranes began moving my weapons into the hanger. And placing them in front of my AC.  
  
"what are you waiting for?" angel spoke up from behind me, making me jump.  
  
"What are you talking about angel?"  
  
"i mean: go get in your AC and equip your weapons."  
  
"oh, ok. Well here i go." And I ran back up the flight of stairs that we came down before.  
  
"Hurry up. We still have that battle!" she called from below.  
  
"ya-ya..." i ran up the catwalk that we walked over before and walked a bridge over to my AC cockpit. I jumped onto my core and walked up to the top. When i got right in front of the head there was a small keyboard for imputing my password to open the top hatch. I hadn't set a password yet so i just clicked OPEN and the hatch slid back allowing me access to the cockpit. I jumped in and landed on a small 4x4 platform inside the spherical cockpit. Hanging off the left side of the platform was a black pilot suit. i put on the suit and found that it was quit big, after i put on the suit however, lights flickered on all over the cockpit and thousands of tiny lasers shot out of the sides of the cockpit and scanned my body from head to toe. After the lasers had finished the suit tightened and fit my body perfectly. After this the lights turned of inside the cockpit and the whole inside of the cockpit lit up, blinding me temporarily. When my eyes adjusted i could see that the whole cockpit perfectly mirrored the outside of the AC.  
  
"this AC unit is now fully operational. Would you like to assign a name to this AC?" the harsh computer voice startled me.  
  
"umm... Well?" i didn't want to use the same name as my MT. "Revolution."  
  
"very well, this AC unit will now be known as "Revolution". what is the name of the pilot of Revolution?"  
  
"Xero."  
  
"good day to you Xero. Are you ready to initiate normal mode?"  
  
"yes." as soon as i said that the platform that i was standing on broke apart and became braces around my calves and feet and they held me in the air. a small tray came out of the wall in front of me with a pair of black gloves on it.  
  
"take the gloves please."  
  
"um, ya." i put the gloves on and could feel hundreds of tiny sensors inside them along with four bottons in each glove. two in each little finger to lock the hand in place around an object or weapon and one to use a back weapon that was equipped to the same side as that hand, one in each ring finger for the overboost, and one in each middle finger to control the regular boosters.  
  
"hey kid, try moving around."  
  
"kid? Im a kid now?" I'm probably older than he is! i guess these people are going to talk down to me. I took a step forward and felt the AC move in response. I lifted my arm up to my face and moved my fingers around; the AC mimicked my moves exactly. "hey how come the test ACs aren't set up like this?"  
  
"you mean the cockpit controls? well, they're just test ACs and don't require much presicion for the missions that we would give you for a test. You on the other hand may have a mission where you would have to handle vital equipment or maybe carry a person. So your personal AC would need much more precision in its movements."  
  
"i understand." I moved my other arm around and watched as the AC did the same. I tried punching and felt the rest of the AC try to move with the momentum of the arm.  
  
"there are no weapons equiped on this AC unit." the computer's roughly female voice spoke up.  
  
"computer, how do i equip weapons on the AC?"  
  
"hand weapons are simply picked up. Back weapons must be attached. To attach them, pick them up and line the joint on the weapon up with the joint on the core. Then i will guide the controls and complete the connection."  
  
"ok, the first is a laser cannon on the left shoulder."  
  
"pick up the weapon and position it near the left shoulder." i picked up the cannon as instructed and lined up the joints as best i could and the computer took over the controls and connected the cannon. I did this again with the missile launcher. After the missiles were connected i picked up the shotguns.  
  
"chris? Do these legs have the double weapon clamps like i requested?"  
  
"yes they do. You can click two weapons to each leg."  
  
"thanks." I looked down at angel and chris. "so angel, what do you think?" i could hear my own voice ringing throughout the hanger from my ACs speaker.  
  
"well, i must say it looks pretty impresive. But it might be a little slow."  
  
"a little slow? it better not be slow! I got the FLEETs on this thing; do you know how much those cost!?"  
  
"well not exactly. I have the refined FLEETs on my AC so mine is pretty fast."  
  
"whatever, you ready for our little battle?" I lifted my shotguns and tried to look like I was ready for a challenge.  
  
"always." She turned back and started heading for the catwalk that we came in from.  
  
"now hold your horses Xero!" Chris cut in quickly. "Im gonna open up the hanger doors, i want you to take your AC out to the desert and get used to it before you do anything else."  
  
"like where we had the raven test?"  
  
"thats fine. But wherever is ok. Just as long as your away from the city."  
  
"alright."  
  
"im opening the doors."  
  
"hey Xero! when you get back meet me in the nest!"  
  
the doors to my left opened wide allowing me access to the outside world. I turned to my left and walked up to the opening.  
  
"ok, here i go." and i ran out of the hanger.  
  
the AC followed my movements perfectly and ran as i did through the city. I ran and walked for about an hour until i finally cleared the city. Once i was in the desert i wanted tried out my boosters so i pushed the button in my left glove and found myself strafe-boosting to the right. "so my left glove only ignights the left booster which will shoot me to the right." that works. I regained my balance and pressed both buttons at the same time and shot straight up, jerking my head back in the process. I got to 1000 feet and began free-falling. At about 500 feet i hit the boosters again to see the recovery speed and to slow myself down bu tonce again my head was ripped back as I flew upward. "slow my ass!!" I decided to feather boost the rest of the way down. Upon reaching the ground i leaned forward and pressed the boosters; jetting me forward and i checked my speedometer; it claimed i was going 227 mph. "whoa!" i let off the boosters and decided to try out the overboost. I regained my balence and pushed both buttons in the ring finger. I could hear the back of the core click and open, then the whine of the engines as the core powered up. When the core reached the top of its whine it exploded with energy, launching me forward. My head was jerked back painfully as my eyes blurred from all the blood rushing to the back off my head when the AC shot forward. The noise was unbelievable. I straigned my neck to check my speedometer and it read 686 mph, i was able to glance at it just before i ran out of energy and it shut off. I flew forward and landed on my feet but i was still traveling at about 500 mph and i flew off my feet and slamed into the ground head- first. i slid for about 350 meters before i skidded to a stop.  
  
"hey! Are you ok?!"  
  
"wha-?" it was angel in her AC.  
  
"An-gel? Im ov-er he-re!"  
  
"yea, that overboost got ya huh?"  
  
i managed to struggle to my feet but fell back to my knees. My shotguns were no longer in my hands. "wow, that hurts. I have the worst headache."  
  
"i bet you do. Here i'll help you up."  
  
"thanks." she walked over and grabbed my AC under the shoulders and picked my up. "computer do a damage check."  
  
"head unit is moderatley damaged."  
  
"ok, well i could get that fixed in a few hours." "thanks again angel, why are you out here and where did i drop my shotguns?"  
  
"i saw you drop them right when your AC started the overboost. And im here to tell you that i accepted a mission for the two of us to take on."  
  
"you what!? Look, angel, i dont even know how to pilot this thing yet!"  
  
"its no big deal. We just have to take out a few turrets and AI MTs at another one of those computer controlled bases."  
  
"another base take-over huh? Oh, whatever. I just sighed and decided to go with it. Maybe the practice would do me some good. "Where are my shotguns?"  
  
"just turn on the weapon beacon and follow the blip."  
  
"computer activate the weapon locator."  
  
"locator activated." a small circular radar screen came up with two green dots on it.  
  
"angel, how does the weapon locator work?"  
  
"well, i beleive that your AC sends out a signal that all modern weapons pick up and then they give off a radar signal."  
  
"im getting two weapon signals. They are pretty close together, i think those might be my shotguns." And I boosted away toward the blips on my screen.  
  
"alright, im right behind you."  
  
I boosted about 17 miles back the way i "think" i came towards the blips.  
  
"theres my shotguns; are they damaged?" I looked over them before picking them up to see if anything would fall off if I did pick them up.  
  
"i dont think so. you dropped them right as you took off, i dont think that they traveled too far."  
  
i picked them up and locked them in my hands. "computer, do a damage check on the hand weapons."  
  
"there is no damage to either weapon."  
  
"good. Well, i guess we better get going on this mission then huh?"  
  
"alright, then lets-"  
  
"no, wait! Aaaww damnit, i forgot my other weapons."  
  
"what other weapons?"  
  
"i got double weapon clips on my legs for a reason." i said pointing out the magnetic clamps on the sides of my legs.  
  
"oh, well, what do you wanna do? We have six hours to rout this base, but the sooner the better."  
  
"here ill call ahead to chris and havee him ring up the parts and get them ready."  
  
"alright, lets go then."  
  
i clipped my two shotguns to my leg clips and qued up the radio to chris. "hey chris you there?"  
  
"wha- that you Xero? What are you calling me on the radio for? Oh, and how did your little test run go?"  
  
I hit the overboost and was able to control myself a little better this time, letting off before i ran out of energy. "im calling ahead to tell you to get an advanced, long range, sniper rifle and an 800 round machinegun readdy for me. Go ahead and pay for them with the same account that i used last time. And the little test was ok." as i finished i started the overboost again.  
  
"wow, quite a mouthful. Well ok, ill have them all ready for you to pick up when you get here. Are you grabbing them and then going on a mission or something?"  
  
"thats exactly it." i switched off the overboost again to let my generator recharge. "angel signed herself and me up for a mission while i was gone and came out here to get me."  
  
"well that sounds like a bunch of fun." he laughed a bit. "alright, ill have them ready for you when you get back."  
  
I hit the overboost again. By now im finding myself able to control the overboost just fine. "thanks chris, i owe you one." 


	4. Breaking In

Chap 4 Breaking Through  
  
We made it back to the hangar in about 4 more minutes. I grabbed my new weapons and clipped them to my legs.  
  
"All ready." I said as I clipped the weapons to my legs.  
  
"Finally, lets go. Follow me." And she boosted straight up into the air then hit her overboost and shot away.  
  
I tried to follow as best as I could but her AC was alot faster. But I could try to keep up. We kept boosting, running, and overboosting for about an hour. All the while I was still getting used to the AC and asking questions about the mission. Finally she got sick of my annoying questions and just sent me the mission request:  
  
Operation name: branching out  
  
Requesting corporation: Mirage  
  
Opposing corporation: Crest  
  
Advance: 0  
  
Reward: 56,000 Cr  
  
Area of Operation: Mountainous Area 563-T  
  
Enemy forces: multiple AI turrets and MTs  
  
Recommended raven rank: C  
  
Survival Chance: 67%  
  
Mission review: Crest has been spreading rapidly through newly discovered land and has been claiming new and previously undiscovered minerals deposits and even elements! They do not have the manpower to occupy all this area at the same time with living people. To rectify this problem Crest has been greatly employing the use of AI controlled basses. One such base has been just previously constructed and is standing guard over a newly discover element ore. Your mission is to secure the ore and destroy the base.  
  
Sounds simple enough.  
  
"Here we are!" Angel stopped boosting and kneeled down behind a small ledge on the edge of a cliff. I did the same.  
  
She pointed down into the valley and towards a small base that was bustling with movement. "It doesn't look to bad from up here."  
  
"Try zooming in. Things are rarely what they seem." I did as suggested and zoomed in my view as far as would go.  
  
"Computer, magnify image."  
  
"CMH-MISTEYE is at maximum range."  
  
I could see eight turret-towers, at least ten battle MTs, and at least twenty of new model MTs from the ledge. Along with numerous heavy lifting MTs that seemed to be walking back and forth from the base and about three or four access tunnels that led into various mountains surrounding the base. "You ready?"  
  
"What? Do you have any ideas? Just because you're in an AC doesn't make you invincible."  
  
"I know that." I replied as I clipped both my shotguns back to my legs, I had taken them off earlier to see if I could hold them while I overboosted, and I picked up my sniper rifle. "This is why I have multiple weapons; I want to be prepared for any and all different situations. Here's the plan: you start locking on to those new MTs with as many missiles as you can. Once you get a full lock, tell me and I'll start planting sniper shots into those turrets, right when I start firing you launch off as many missiles as you can and start flying down this hill."  
  
"Ok, but if I get so much as one scratch on my AC from your lack of cover..."  
  
"Just shuttup and start locking."  
  
"Ya-ya." I watched as both of her Missile launchers raised over her shoulders and opened up. "These each have a six lock maximum. So I'll disable the safe lock and lock-on until I run out of missiles."  
  
"You can do that? But will any of them hit?"  
  
"Sure they'll hit! Not ALL of them will hit but the ones that miss will spread out and hit everything else." She smirked and laughed a bit under her breath. "Locking on..."  
  
"Tell me when your ready." I was a bit nervous about the whole idea.  
  
"Ready."  
  
"Alright, taking aim." I kneeled down and put my sniper rifle up to my shoulder and used my left arm to brace it. I used my computer to quick- lock onto the turrets. What a quick lock did is it would lock in the next targeted turret and angle that I would need to aim at the turret accurately from my position. So basically, as soon as I fired off one shot the AC's computer would move the rifle and aim it at the next turret instantly. All I had to do was pull the trigger eight times and the turrets would be destroyed. That was an ideal situation; there were six turrets on our side of the base and two on the other side. I would have to take out the other two myself "as soon as I take the first shot, you launch off the missiles and start boosting down the mountain."  
  
"Alright, go already."  
  
"Ok, Here goes!" I fired one shot and then another, and another. Until there were six towers of fire surrounding the base. Angel jumped off the ledge and unloaded both of her missile launchers at once, leaving 84 missiles bombarding the base in a semi-spread pattern making the base glow crimson red. Numerous small explosions followed as multiple MTs got hit or caught fire from the bombardment. I got up from my firing position and began boosting down the mountain. I fired my machine gun continually as I 'skied' down the mountain. Hitting MTs randomly. When I got down to the bottom Angel overboosted right in front of me and across the base. She stopped her overboost right in front of an MT and shoved her blade into the middle of it and then ripped it open up-ward causing the MT to launch into the air above her. She pointed her small laser rifle straight up and fired multiple shots straight into the MT, the plasma orbs shredding it apart and melting the rest. She boosted away before the MT hit the ground and she disappeared behind the main building of the base.  
  
I boosted to the left and rammed into another battle MT. I pulled up my sniper rifle and fired right into the front of the MT. I boosted back as it fell forward. I hit the overboost and flew around the base to find angel barely dodge a pair of rockets from a turret as she flew forward and extended her blade. Then she sliced through the entire pillar causing it to fall over onto the main base wall creating a huge hole. I boosted up and forward into the air towards the remaining tower. I landed on top of the tower and pointed my machine gun straight down between my feet and started firing full throttle. Bullets started penetrating the light armour of the turret and small explosions were setting off inside. I jumped off as the turret blew. Angel finished off the last MT with her blade as I landed.  
  
"WHOO!!! What a rush!" She was ecstatic.  
  
"Yes it is. Too much fun." I was having a bit of fun as well.  
  
It was almost nighttime now. The sun was about a planets length from the horizon and steadily dropping, painting the flat clouds vibrant shades of red, pink, and purple.  
  
A wall on another building behind us started rolling upwards. Seven large walker MTs lumbered out. They were taller than us by about half an AC, they had large cannons on their backs and they walked on all fours.  
  
"Now what?" Angel actually sounded annoyed at this new threat.  
  
"Wait, I'll handle these." I wanted to test out my back weapons. I activated my missile launcher and started locking onto the first MT as angel boosted to the top of the main base building. I strafe-boosted to the left and fired six missiles at the first MT. All of them plowed into the front of the walker, decimating the front of it and blowing off the two front legs. It fell forward and exploded in all the glory of red flames.  
  
"Nice effect that had but I could do that in my sleep." Angel snickered.  
  
My AC turned around and flew up, facing angel, into her view with both middle fingers standing proudly on end.  
  
"HAHAAHA! Is that an offer Xero? HAHA!"  
  
"It just might. But I'm way too hot for you to handle."  
  
"Oh, ya think so, huh?"  
  
"Just watch this!" I let go of the boosters and dropped straight down as a huge energy blast flew over my head. I hit the ground in a crouched position and lifted my head, looking straight at the MTs. I lowered my laser cannon over my shoulder. I fired one shot still crouched then stood quickly and hit my overboost which shot me forward and caused my eyes to blur as a swarm of vertical missiles impacted the ground behind me. I literally raced my own plasma shot towards one of the MTs. I strafed to the right just in time as the shot plowed ruthlessly into the MT, ripping it into three pieces. I cut the overboost and landed behind the group. Their large size made it hard for them to turn around quickly. I took advantage of they're obvious weakness and ran towards the closest one. I stopped behind its left rear leg and unclipped my shotguns. I pointed the guns at the actuator joint between the legs and fired, ripping the joint apart. The legs gave out and I fired again into the 'hips' of both legs. The legs came clean off and the MT fell backward, leaving it immobile.  
  
"Four more, want some help yet Xero?"  
  
"Shuttup! I can handle this by myself." To tell the truth I doubted myself. But I glanced back toward where angel was expecting to see her taunting me somehow. I was greeted with a much more disturbing image. Instead of angel I saw another of the strange units that I saw during my raven test. For some reason, seeing it caused a feeling of blind rage to flood inside me. I jumped up and lowered my cannon again. I boosted backward for an unknown reason and was blinded as four large plasma beams sparked and crackled inches from my AC's core.  
  
I dropped back down to the ground while I boosted back and left. When I landed I had maneuvered my way so that I had three of the MTs lined up. I braced myself on my feet and fired my cannon; at the same time I started my boosters forward so I wouldn't be thrown backwards by the recoil. My cannon shot blasted through the rear of the first MT, through the front of the second MT, and it finalized by plowing square into the center of the third MT, blowing it to dust. I jumped to the left without thinking about it and another volley of vertical missiles crashed into the ground where I just was. I jumped into the air again and put away my cannon. Instead I unclipped one of my shotguns and my machine gun. I flew up and to the right, looking down I saw the final MT standing there. I started dropping towards it firing my machine gun and shotgun at the same time. By the time I got to the MT it was littered with holes. I landed on the MTs back and it completely collapsed because of its weakened structure from all the holes in its armour.  
  
"HOLY SHIT!" Angel was flabbergasted. "Xero, how the hell did- did you do that?"  
  
I looked up to where angel was and all I saw was her AC, nothing else. "Wha-? Angel, are you ok?"  
  
"What? Ya, I'm fine. What do you mean, am I ok? Your the one who just took out four mammoth MTs in like thirty seconds!" She started laughing hysterically. "I guess you are a bit too hot for me to handle."  
  
"Well, I... Lets just get going." And I started walking off towards the hole in the main base that was made by the guard tower earlier. Leaving angel standing there with her foot in her mouth.  
  
"Well then fine!" I'm sure that if I would've looked back at her she would have had her head cocked sideways and her hands on her hips.  
  
We walked back to the crashed tower and we both got under it. "Lets get this out of the way."  
  
"Lets." We both bent our knees and put our arms up and our hands on the underside of the tower.  
  
"One! Two! Three!" We hit our overboosters at the same time and we pushed the tower up and over. "Good enough for me." That left us alone with the hole in the wall. "Ladies first." I bowed and motioned my arms toward the hole that we were using as a door.  
  
"Thank you, sir." And she proceeded to walk, as snobby as possible in an AC, through the door. Her arms extended at her sides and she was swinging her hips as much as the AC would allow. I followed her inside laughing.  
  
Once inside we were in the middle of a large corridor. The radio started crackling. "Angel, do you copy?"  
  
"Huh? Um, this is Angel."  
  
"Angel, this is Mirage Intel, we have confirmed the presence of an AC in that base. Watch yourself."  
  
"Roger. Do you have any info on the raven?"  
  
"She is a relatively new raven. AC name: Fire Stream. Lightweight. Very fast."  
  
"Alright thanks."  
  
"Angel? What about the ravens name?"  
  
"Doesn't matter who she is. If she interferes with our mission she's an enemy."  
  
"Well... Alright, I guess..." I thought her response was a little cold blooded but I guess that's the way it works in our field of work.  
  
We decided to stick together and take the left passage. We were only encountering minor resistance; ceiling turrets and wall mounted turrets, but nothing special. We came to our first door and angel had to use her blade to open it. Inside was a large room with a lot of side doors and various pieces of equipment: computers, MT parts, etc.... At the far end of the room there was a large pillar that went from the floor all the way to the ceiling (which was way up there).  
  
"Haven't we seen this before?" I asked angel, pointing to the pillar.  
  
"I think so. Its just like the one from the Kisaragi base a few weeks ago." And indeed it was an identical pillar to the one that angel disemboweled at the Kisaragi base. "We should probably take this one out to. It had a nice effect last time."  
  
"I think so to, but who is the one stealing technology here? Is it Crest from Kisaragi, or Kisaragi from Crest?"  
  
"I have no idea. Kisaragi is usually right on top of any technological advances, but Kisaragi has been really struggling ever since Nydem destroyed the Controller." We walked towards the pillar.  
  
Nydem was the raven solely responsible for the release of the layered cities, and the repopulation of the surface world. "Nydem... I wonder what it would be like around this part of the world if she was still alive?"  
  
"Huh? What do you mean?"  
  
"Well, she was the best raven that ever lived. She probably could have ended the corporate war a long time ago."  
  
"That's quite possible, but nobody ever said she was dead."  
  
"Angel, she disappeared five years ago. On the day that I became an MT pilot." That was how I always remembered the date that the world's greatest raven went MIA. The same day that I got my confirmation from Global Cortex, I saw it on the news.  
  
(Just a note for the reader: Nydem means Goddess in some language that I can't seem to remember the name of right now.)  
  
"Well, that's all in the past now Xero. And I have a feeling that Nydem is still out there somewhere." We walked up to the pillar and angel heated her blade and routed more energy into it just as she did before. "Well, goodbye AI." With that, she stabbed her blade into the pillar and she routed more energy into it, causing the blade to heat and expand. A large hole melted away around the blade and we could hear the pillar shutting down. The pillar's computer voice crackled to life once more...  
  
"loSIng poWeR, ActIvAtiNg StAndBy gAteS." The whole pillar shut down. Every light, every computer screen dimmed and then went completely black and quiet as death.  
  
"Xero, what are standby gates?"  
  
"I don't think I want to know." The doors on the sides of the room all slid down and dozens of strange new MTs walked through the door. The MTs were about half as tall as I was, they had four legs, small thin cores that were pointed vertically, thin elongated arms that stretched straight out from the sides of the core, and the heads looked like TV antennas (like the AC head part).  
  
"I think we have a problem here Xero." Angel took a step back and one of the MTs took a step forward.  
  
I dropped to one knee and brought my laser cannon over my shoulder. "When I fire it should take out a bunch of 'em. You blast your way through and I'll keep them busy." After I said this, another door opened behind us and two ACs came in.  
  
"Shit! I thought they said one AC not two!?"  
  
"This is Blaze." One of the ACs announced.  
  
"This is Morrow." The other followed.  
  
"Identify yours- angel? Is that you?" Blaze started.  
  
"Ya, its me."  
  
"And it's me Xero." I was quick to announce before they shot me. "Ha, what's up guys?"  
  
Morrow answered first. "Well nothing really. This was my first mission and I shoulda known it; here you are to screw it up." We all couldn't help but laugh at the irony of the whole situation. "These MTs are under our control should the main control computer crash or get destroyed."  
  
"Angel did it!" I laughed at myself as I pointed my finger at her. They all joined in.  
  
Our laughter was cut short as the radio came back on. "Blaze, Morrow. Your objective was to eliminate the intruders. But as you are obviously in league with the enemy than we have little choice than to treat you as such. You have hereby failed your mission and have lost all privileges that came with your mission acceptance; mainly, control over the new SXT-R5 prototype MTs. Pleasure working with you. Crest control out."  
  
"Damnit. There goes our reward, Morrow." Dissapointment filled her words.  
  
"And your lives." Angel said as she backed away from the battalion of Battle ready MTs.  
  
"Hey blaze. What are these MTs fitted with?"  
  
"Shotgun arms. That's it."  
  
"Ya, but in these confined quarters that many shotguns are gonna rip us apart." Morrow pointed out.  
  
"Not if we rip them apart first. Morrow, looks like you've got some big balls, get over here." Morrow had large, rounded, high-load capacity legs. A middleweight, overboost core with missile interception. Mid-weight arms, and the RACHIS head unit. He was outfitted with missile interception on the shoulders, the LIC-10 linear cannon, the KARASAWA, and the MOONLIGHT laser Blade. "Nice moonlight, where did you find that?"  
  
"It was the garage's only one." Blaze growled over the com.  
  
"Well, I beat her to it." Morrow laughed. Blaze was the only one not laughing now.  
  
"How can you guys laugh at a time like this!?" Blaze shouted as she took a step forward. Blaze's AC was a light-weight with an 800 round machine gun, a HALBERD laser-blade like angels, and two 30% ammo additions on her back. She had light-mid-weight SPINE legs, HADRO arms, a good mapping head, and a lightweight, solid ammo EO core.  
  
"Ok, ok. Lets get outa here. Morrow, come over here with that giant cannon of yours." I was done laughing here and I was getting anxious to get back home and laugh there.  
  
"Alright. Here I am." Morrow walked over and kneeled down next to me.  
  
The radio crackled to life again. "Blaze, morrow, your contract is hereby dissolved. You have thirty seconds to get out of that base before we activate the MTs."  
  
"Morrow, we couldn't get out in thirty seconds if we tried!" Blaze was beginning to panic.  
  
"I know that blaze. They just gave us a thirty second head start." He looked at me and charged up his cannon. "Xero, you with me?"  
  
I caught on, "hell ya, I'm in. Lets get the hell out of here." I charged my cannon as well. "Hey girls, as soon as we fire, you ladies start ripping through them. Make a way through. As soon as you have cleared a way to the door we'll overboost right through."  
  
"Ok." Angel was on it.  
  
"Alright." Blaze didn't sound so confident.  
  
"Ok morrow, on three.... THREE!" We both fired our cannons into the crowd. My shot was dwarfed by morrows cannon shot. But it was no less effective. Both shots ripped through the crowd, destroying and that were in the way and melting any that got to close.  
  
Blaze and angel flew past us: Blaze's machine gun roaring and her EO punching through random targets, Angel firing her laser rifle and swinging her blade constantly. Morrow stood up and starting firing his KARASAWA shot after shot. I stood up and activated my missile launcher. I got six locks and fired off the missiles, all of them hit their respective target and the ones that were hit seemed to just fall apart.  
  
"They're activating the MTs!" Angel shouted as a cloud of bullets flew at her, most bouncing of her armour but some catching soft spots from the previous battle. "Blaze help me clear a path for the boys!"  
  
"Alright, I'm right here!" Blaze flew in next to angel and started firing constantly at the group of MTs.  
  
"This isn't working!" Morrow said, after about one minute, sounding lost. "It's a losing battle. For every one we destroy there are five more to take its place." We were losing hope.  
  
"The gates!" I watched the gates. New MTs were pouring in constantly. "Morrow! Blast those doors shut! It'll stop the MTs from coming in!"  
  
"Gotcha!" He lowered his cannon as another wave of shotgun shots plowed into his heavily armored AC. He charged his linear cannon again and ignited his boosters forward as he fired his cannon. The shot melted numerous MTs on its way to the wall. And once it hit the wall, cement and chunks of rock and steel flew everywhere. Once the dust settled we could see what was left of most of the wall; it was a huge crumbled mess. There were legs and arms of MTs sticking out every which way, along with gate shutters. Morrow stood up and fired his KARASAWA a few more times at the rest of the wall, destroying whatever wasn't damaged by the first blast. Then he turned around and started firing his KARASAWA relentlessly into the other wall, destroying it completely. With the flow of MTs stemmed for now, I got out my machine gun and one of my shotguns and started picking off the leftover MTs. One shot from Morrows 'sawa' completely disintegrated the MT and the one behind it. So he was our heavy-hitter of the group. We couldn't let him fall.  
  
"This is blaze. Taking heavy damage, running low on ammo." Her panicked voice returning.  
  
"We still have a good fifty to sixty of these things left. Just keep at it." I tried my best to sound supportive but for some reason it always comes out wrong. I turned to my left and was confronted with six or seven shotgun blasts. The ringing of the bullets as they bounced off my armour was driving me nuts. I opened up on them with my machine gun and started to sweep back and forth with the 300 round a minute weapon. They fell easily but their great numbers and speed is what made them deadly. The more we destroyed, the harder it got to hit them as we opened more space in the room with every falling MT.  
  
"Angel here. My missile launchers are wasted because I'm getting hit in the back so much. Dropping them now." And she unclipped her ruined missile launchers onto the ground behind her. After disposing of the launchers she was knocked backward by an MT. Then another three MTs climbed on top of her. The leading MT fired its shotguns at point-blank range and shattered her right arm. "YYYEEEEAAAAAAA!!!" The other two MTs fired their shotguns about four times into her head, destroying it. She activated her blade and swung it wildly around, cutting the first MT in half and cutting the front legs off of the other two MTs. "My head is wasted. Heavy damage to my front armour. My right arm is gone. Left leg immobile. I'm done, sorry guys." She just lay there. Her AC almost completely destroyed. The MTs hadn't been there long but the damage was done. They may be light MTs but so was angels AC and it looked like the front of her core had caved in a bit from the weight.  
  
"Angel is out of commission guys, were gonna have to carry her out." I was too busy shooting down the remaining MTs to run over and help Angel right now. I was firing my shotgun and my machinegun constantly. One shotgun shot took out one MT. So if I hit it square I can take them out quickly.  
  
"Ok guys, I'm sick and tired of playing around with these little pieces of shit. Its time to end this!" With that Morrow boosted forward, picked up angel, and boosted to the back of the room (near the pillar). Blaze and I followed the heavy AC and provided cover fire for him on the way. Once we were behind him he put angel down behind him, turned around and got into a firing stance as he lowered his enormous linear cannon over his shoulder. He started charging the cannon. "I'm gonna waste all these little bastards in one shot!"  
  
"What are you doing morrow!!?"  
  
"He's overloading his cannon! Get back behind him!"  
  
"HAHAHAHA!! HERE IT GOES!!!" His cannon glowed like an unholy black sun. It was blinding us, and the MTs were getting closer and closer.  
  
"Morrow, what's wrong with you? Your freaking out!" He fired his cannon. The ensuing blast decimated everything in the room, the MTs, all the other equipment, and the opposite wall. After about thirty seconds my ears had recovered and I could hear again. "Morrow? Are you ok?"  
  
"Wow, I don't know what just came over me."  
  
"Looks like you went a little power crazy for a second. But you got the job done. Damn, look at that." Blaze walked forward and looked down the span of the "half-pipe" that morrow's linear cannon had made in the floor.  
  
Morrow stood up and turned around to pick up angels ruined AC then he began walking towards the opposite wall that he just decimated. We followed him across the room, not saying a word. We walked through the half-pipe that he made in the ground. Watching as the metallic gas, that was made from the MTs as they were disintegrated from the blast, float around like a heavy, black fog, hardening to anything that it touches.  
  
"Hey blaze. Could you cut this wall open for me? My hands are busy." He lifted angel's AC a bit to show that his arms were taken.  
  
"Alright. Ill have it open in a second." She walked up to the door, heated her blade and started carving away an exit.  
  
"I could just blast it open." I stepped forward, ready to power my cannon.  
  
"No Xero. I don't want to hear anymore loud noises tonight. I've had enough."  
  
"O, well alright." I took a few steps back behind morrow as blaze kept cutting away at the pile of rocks. I looked up at morrow and admired him for a second. It was a strange moment; I had never seen morrow act that way before or put cutting a wall open before blowing it up. I laughed at myself. "I'm being stupid." I thought. "It was in the heat of battle and he snapped. I've done that before! Its really no big deal." And I tried to dismiss it as such but I had a bad feeling.  
  
The sound of machine gun fire woke me up from my phantasmagoria; I picked up both my shotguns and prepared myself for battle.  
  
"All done! Lets get outta this hell-hole." It was just blaze finishing up her hole making with her machine gun.  
  
I looked up at morrow again and saw him flinch when blaze fired her machine gun again to widen the hole a little more. "C'mon morrow, its time. Lets go home." He shook his head and stepped through the hole.  
  
We walked silently all the way through the base. Blaze taking the front, morrow with angel in the middle, and I took the rear. We made it to the exit that angel and I made and proceeded outside. By now it was completely dark. There was no moon but the stars sang a beautiful song of serenity and innocence above us in the heavens.  
  
"Well guys, do we want to call in a transport or just boost back?" Blaze turned around and asked innocently, like nothing had ever happened. That was the kind of mentality that is usually required of ravens: senseless killers, is what they call us. But most ravens are never able to grasp that. Most just go on with their missions and in the arena but eventually their conscious catches up to them and they end up basically losing themselves. And the ones that do grasp that... become heartless warriors. Sadly, the heartless warriors tended to be the best ravens around. I'm torn on my feelings about blaze, its good that she is able to put things behind her but at the same time I hope that she doesn't lose herself completely.  
  
"We'll just boost back." Morrow spoke up unexpectedly.  
  
"You sure?" I wasn't sure if morrow was quite up to boosting all the way back to Zenith city.  
  
"Ill be fine. Lets just get going." Sadness and depression forming his sentence.  
  
"Well, alright c'mon." Blaze boosted away first, morrow next, and I followed the two of them.  
  
We had been boosting back for about twenty minutes when I saw a large glowing blue ball about one and a half meters to my left and closing in fast. "Guys I see something. Hit your overboost and get the hell back to the Cortex. Ill check ou-" my sentence was cut short when the ground in front of me exploded and I was thrown backwards backwards.  
  
"XERO!!!" A strange new voice screamed over the com.  
  
"Alright, later Xero." Blaze called and activated her overboost. Morrow did the same without a word.  
  
"Xero...be...careful..." angel struggled to speak. I was surprised to hear her; I was also surprised that her com worked after those MTs decimated her AC.  
  
I stood up again and turned to face my new threat. I looked up and saw an AC: This AC had high-load, mid-weight legs. A lightweight core with overboost and missile interception, lightweight arms, and a good function head. Its weapons were high-ammo dual missile launchers on the back, high ammo missile extensions, an 800 round machine gun, and a left arm grenade launcher. It was painted mostly black with some red details. But the thing about this AC was the eye, its eye glowed black somehow. It made for a frightening scene.  
  
"Huh. I guess these machine guns are popular." I pulled out my own and took it in my left hand.  
  
"I guess they must be." He held up his own. But what surprised me was his voice, his voice sounded so young.  
  
"Wait a second. How old are you? Are you even supposed to be piloting that?"  
  
"Well for your first question, I'm seventeen. For your second, yes."  
  
"Your only seventeen!? But how can you be allowed to pilot at seventeen?!"  
  
"You don't know who I am, do you?"  
  
"Should I?"  
  
"Well, most people know the A ranks pretty well. Most people know the A-1 ranked raven when they see them. My name is Nexus, this is my AC, Firestorm."  
  
"A-1 ranker huh? I think I've heard of you. The youngest raven, I remember now. You became a raven at fifteen and got to A-1 in two months. A new record right? That's pretty impressive being as there's over one hundred arena competitors in this region. And no losses yet right?"  
  
"Ya thanks. I think I beat the last record by one day. And nope, no losses yet." He sounded very proud of his accomplishment. And why shouldn't he be proud? He's the greatest raven at seventeen years old.  
  
"So, back to business. What do you want?" I sounded exceptionally terse.  
  
"Ah, the point. Well, it seems you and your friends did a damn good job of pissing Crest off. So they just gave me one hundred and fifty K to eliminate you guys."  
  
"Ok. Well, then, lets see what the A-1 raven can do, shall we?" I unclipped my shotguns.  
  
"I guess we shall. Ill deal with your friends later. Sorry about this but orders are orders." He was totally cool about this whole thing.  
  
"Well you have to get by me first." I lifted my shotguns and started locking with my missiles.  
  
"You done locking yet?"  
  
Wha-? How did he know I was locking? Whatever. "Lets go!" I boosted up and back launching six missiles at him. At the same time I fired both shotguns constantly. He boosted back but didn't make a great effort to dodge my missiles, which four of hit, and I was showering him with shotgun blasts. I saw the missile launchers on his back open along with the extensions on his shoulders. A second later there were eight missiles coming at me. I cut my boosters and dropped until the missiles flew over me and I hit my overboost in mid-air. My overboost shot me forward at around 700 mph, straight at Nexus. I flew right at him, firing my shotguns the whole time. I lowered my cannon and fired one shot right at him at point blank before I flew over his head. I cut the overboost and landed, the blood rushing back to the rest of my body and the adrenaline making me extremely energetic and I put my shotguns back on my legs. I spun around in time to see a grenade coming at me. I dropped to the ground and it exploded behind me. I looked up and Nexus was standing over me with his machine gun pointed at my head.  
  
"That was a nice show! You almost got me with your cannon and you put a great number of holes in my armour with those shotguns." His voice was loud and triumphant, like he already won.  
  
"I'm not done yet!"  
  
"Oh?"  
  
I hit my boosters and pulled up my machine gun at the same time. I pointed my machine gun straight up and started firing. I slid on the ground towards Nexus. I put my other arm out to my side. I slid in-between his legs and my left arm caught his right leg as I fired my gun up into his leg gyro. When my arm caught him, he started falling backwards. My machinegun, that was going the whole time, started firing into the back of his core and then as it climbed I tried my best to keep it firing into the back of his head.  
  
"You sneaky little bastard. You'll figure it out eventually." He sounded way to confident.  
  
He hit his overboost. Not good for me, if he lit his overboost with his back so close to my AC he would fry me! I hit my own overboost as his was about to explode with energy. I pulled up my sniper rifle and fired into the back of his core and into his overboost. His overboost fired off and melted my machine gun into a puddle that sizzled as it hit the ground. My left arm was red-hot but fortunately not melting. I managed to roll over just before my overboost activated and drove me into the ground, but was instead shot straight up into the air. Right after I took off I cut the overboost and watched Nexus as I was free falling. He got about nine hundred yards away when something sparked in his overboost machinery. His overboost plasma stream got three times bigger but he was slowing down, and the plasma was still getting bigger. He landed on his feet and turned around.  
  
He opened up a com channel but it was barely audible because every alarm must have been going off in his cockpit. "What the hell did you do!?" He turned his machine gun around fired into his own core. He only fired a few rounds but he must have hit something because the back of his core shutdown but didn't close up. "Well I guess you hit the power restriction conduit with that well placed sniper shot you managed to fire off." The alarms in his core had shut off and it was a lot easier to hear him now. Even though he was out of breath. "No more overboost for me."  
  
He started running at me again and fired off a few grenade rounds before hitting his boosters and shooting left and up.  
  
I dodged the grenades by following his lead and flying up and right. I looked up just in time to be hit in full force by a complete volley of eight missiles right into my head and my core. Luckily my core took most of the hit and because of its rounded shape I escaped with just some huge dents. I recovered myself and saw flashes of light then my own alarms began going off. I turned around and there he was, unloading machine gun rounds into my back.  
  
"How the hell did he get back there!?!" I opened up my cannon again and spun around. As soon as I saw him, I didn't even wait for my F.C.S. to lock onto him, I fired three shots. The shots drained my energy and I started falling.  
  
He managed to dodge two of my point-blank shots but the last one hit him in the upper right side of his core. It ripped his head and the entire top- right of his core clean off. Including his right arm and the missile launcher on that side. "YYYAAAAAAAA!!" He fell down and slammed the ground from 1500 feet. I landed right before him and fell to my knees when I hit. I got back up and walked over to the smoldering Firestorm. He was lying on his back; his head was about 125 yards away and smoking. I walked up and put one foot on his waist and pointed my sniper rifle at his cockpit.  
  
"You lose Nexus." I was breathing heavily and I was so tired I could barely hold up my rifle.  
  
"Huh, well I guess so Xero. But I wonder why my AC was reacting so slowly. Ill have to take you more seriously next time." He started laughing. He was actually laughing! Little bitch.  
  
"If there is a 'next time'." I started to walk away but after a minute of nothing... "Do you need a transport?"  
  
"I already called one in. But thanks anyway." He rolled over onto his front and managed to stand with the help of his left hand. I was surprised his AC or himself would move after that battle. He stood up and put his hand out for a handshake. "Peace?"  
  
I gave him a sideways glance.  
  
"I'm not gonna do anything to ya! I'm lucky to be standing. Hell, after you leave I'm gonna sit back down." He was determined to get me to shake his hand. "Id love to shake with my right hand but being as that is about 300 meters away and half melted you get the left!" At least he's got a sense of humor.  
  
I extended my own left hand and gave him a handshake.  
  
"There now, that wasn't that bad was it?" He laughed a little more then fell straight backwards and landed hard on his back again.  
  
"Well Nexus, I gotta go. Maybe ill see you later or maybe in the arena. Maybe we could have a rematch!" I turned and hit my overboost. I shot away at 700 mph, leaving him on the ground with nothing but the stars to talk to.  
  
"Xero, I can hardly wait..." he said softly to the stars then closed his eyes. 


	5. Job Well Done

Chap 5  
  
I continued boosting and overboosting until I reached the city. Once i got there, i jumped to the top of the closest building, trying not to collapse it. I jumped up again and hit my overboost. I did this from building to building until i got to the garage.  
  
I walked up to the main hanger gates for ACs and instead of the gates opening, the guard turrets activated and the searchlights pointed at me. The com opened:  
  
"Identify yourself!" The gruff voice of a guard racked across the com.  
  
"My name is Xero. This is my AC revolution." i said as i raised my arms to guard my eyes from the light.  
  
"You are not a registered raven with this cortex."  
  
"I just took my test today and I'm coming back from my first mission. I got my license only this morning. That's probably why I'm not registered yet."  
  
"Your raven name is Xero? Correct?"  
  
"Ya."  
  
"Just a moment. If you move from your position we WILL open fire."  
  
"Ya ya, ok." I could tell the guard put his hand over the mic, i could hear the scratching of his hand and some muffled voices in the background.  
  
"Very well." The guard returned. "We apologize for this misunderstanding Xero. Please continue through to the garage repair hangar to your left."  
  
"Ya, no problem. Don't worry about it." The lights turned off and the turrets deactivated. The gates opened a moment later to let me in.  
  
I walked through to the repair center doors and waited for the automatic hangar doors to open. When they opened enough for me to; I walked in to the hanger and saw blaze walking her AC through a door on the other side of the hanger. I tried to radio her but she had her com off. I looked to the AC stalls on the side of the hanger and saw angels AC supported by two repair MTs that had obviously been locked into that position to hold up the wrecked AC. I walked over and backed my AC into the stall two stalls to the right of Angel's. The catwalk automatically extended over to my AC's cockpit hatch.  
  
"Computer, please deactivate the AC."  
  
"Yes, Xero. Goodnight." With that the AC shutdown and the cockpit monitors faded into blackness and the cockpit lights turned on. The pilot suit loosened, i unzipped it down the front and i slipped out and put it onto the side of the platform that had been made by my leg braces when they unclipped themselves. I jumped up and grabbed the bar that was about three feet above my head and pulled myself out of the cockpit. I closed the hatch and input my new password. I jumped off the core and looked around, there was a bridge that went from one side of the garage to the other and the bridge crossed across the cores of any AC that would be parked in a stall. On one side of the bridge was a door with a sign that said in large black letters "REPAIR OFFICE". On the other side of the bridge was another door that said "ELEVATOR", and it was where the repair crews would get down to the ground floor. The ground floor was mainly for the AC mechanics and the repair MT pilots. Nobody else really went down there, i don't think it's that we weren't allowed; it's just that nobody really had any business down there. I'm pretty sure the elevator went to the upper levels as well so the pilots could get around. So i walked to the opposite side of the bridge to the office of the repair center to see somebody about repairing my AC. It was late so i left them a note about it on the desk. As i was walking back across the bridge to the door on the opposite side i stopped to look at my AC. Its head was partially smashed in and the core was flat in the front and sides where it was supposed to be round. Its arms were mostly unharmed except for some small holes (relatively speaking, they were three inches wide) and some dents in the armour. I'm sure that there were a ton of holes in the back and the legs. I shook my head and continued down the bridge until i got to the elevator. I opened the elevator and stepped inside.  
  
"What floor please?" A smooth female voice reverberated from the walls.  
  
"I wonder how angels doing?" I wondered allowed. "Infirmary please."  
  
"Level eight, third passage to the left." The elevator started moving abruptly, giving me a smashing feeling. After about a minute the elevator stopped and the doors opened.  
  
I exited the elevator and walked down the hallway until i came to the third passage on my left. I took it and then i kept walking until i reached a door marked "INFIRMARY". I proceeded inside and came to a counter in a medium sized white room lined with doors on both sides. I walked up to the counter and to the old woman who was standing there. The room smelled strangely sterile, which was unlike a cortex garage facility because the only places people see are the offices and maybe the garage if they have a good connection.  
  
"Good afternoon. Can i help you?" The woman said with a cheery voice and face.  
  
"I was wondering if a raven named angel was brought in earlier?"  
  
"Angel? Let me check." She started typing away on the computer keyboard next to her. "Ah, yes. Angel, she was brought in earlier but was released shortly after. Actually, she was only in here for about ten minutes." She chuckled a bit.  
  
"Alright thanks. C'ya later." I spun around and went back the way i came. Through the halls to the elevator.  
  
"What floor please?" The female voice asked of me again as i stepped in.  
  
"The Nest please." I said in monotone and walked to the back of the elevator and leaned against the wall with my arms crossed. "She was only in there for ten minutes? I thought she would be bed-ridden for a week! Geez, i guess the pilot is more protected then they tell you."  
  
DING! "Level six." The doors slid silently around into the walls of the elevator. "Have a good night." The pleasant voice rang out as i stepped out of the elevator. I walked to the closest door marked "NEST" as i had only hours before.  
  
This time however as the door opened i got smashed as six girls, including blaze, tackled me out of the doorway and onto my ass. I heard cheers and "woot"s coming from the door. I stood up after the women got off me and walked through the door. I saw everybody holding a beer and in a damn good mood. I spotted morrow and angel sitting in a booth at the far corner of the room, both holding a glass of wine and laughing. I walked up with two girls hanging on each arm. They looked up at me and angel scowled upon seeing four super-model class women swinging on my arms, Morrow stood up and gave me a high-five; the girls walked away as i sat down.  
  
"Ok guys, what's going on?" I asked as morrow motioned one hand toward a twenty-four pack of beer and he motioned the other hand towards a bottle of champagne. I pointed to the wine and he poured me a glass and handed it to me.  
  
Angel answered my question as i took a sip. "Well Xero... I'm sorry but after you left for your little AC test run, Chris ran in here and told everyone that he had a recorder installed in your AC's cockpit and head before you picked it up."  
  
I almost spit out what was in my mouth, "WHAT!!!" I was suddenly in a very bad mood. "What is it with you guys and watching what i do in my AC?! This is twice in the same day! What's wrong with you guys?" I said exasperated and I slammed my head down on the table.  
  
Angel put her hand over and patted me on the shoulder, trying to be nice but laughing instead.  
  
"Hang on there Xero!" Morrow spoke up. "Before you blow up completely, let us explain. Now, blaze and I were already on a mission. So-"  
  
"Um, I was here! I'm telling him what happened!" Angel spoke out as she scooted closer over on the booth bench towards me. I could probably get a buzz off of her breath if i tried, the alcohol was so strong. "So we all gathered around the TV while Chris set it up. All we really wanted to do was see what kind of effect the overboost would have on you, but as we were all talking people started telling me to take you on a mission because i knew you. They talked me into it somehow and i looked one up really quick and accepted. Then i went off to meet you." She looked around the room really quick. "Hey Evergleam!!!" She yelled across the room and a young male raven looked up. He looked around for a second until he saw angel flailing her arms and started walking over.  
  
"What's up? Oh hey! Its you! That was one hellava damn good job you did out there man!" He swung his arm around and hit my shoulder a few times. He had black spiked hair, he was about 5' 11'', dark tanned skin and dark brown eyes that were almost black.  
  
"Ya thanks. But I'm trying to figure out just what i did that was so good."  
  
He walked around the table and took a seat next to Morrow. "so Xero, what happened before is when you were on your test everybody thought you freaked out towards the end there. So after you left we were all anxious to see what would happen when you tried out your overboost, it gets us all the first time we use it but we were especially interested in you cause you got spooked earlier. Now we all laughed of-course when you fired it off, but I heard some talk going on behind me about someone taking you on a mission to see what you were really made of." He looked over at angel who was now chugging her wine. "that's when I suggested that we send angel to take you because we all knew you and her knew each other from that one mission the other day." He inhaled before continuing. "so we all got together and talked her into going, after she accepted we found a mission that looked easy enough and sent her on her way." He was one of those people who talk just as much with their hands as with their mouth. "so, things went just as you witnessed just that there were thirty other ravens in this room all huddled around three TVs seeing what you were seeing. We were very impressed to say the least with your maneuvers against those mammoth MTs and inside the base against those little spider-monkey pieces of crap. But the real surprise came when the phone rang in here and when it was answered the A-1 rank raven, Nexus, was requested on the line. He was watching but was able to unglue himself long enough to walk over and talk to whoever was on the phone. He was over there for a few minutes but nobody noticed because they were all watching the battle. But when he hung up he got everybody's attention and told us that he had just accepted a mission for Crest to eliminate a group of four ravens that had attacked one of their AI bases. None of us understood why he was telling us this until he said, "guess who I have to fight?" and when nobody answered he pointed to the TV screen with you blowing apart MT after MT. we all ushered him out the door and told him to hurry and get out there before you finished your mission. We continued watching your mission until Nexus got there, that's when things got interesting. He let your buddies get away while he took you on." He looked at me then at the table then up at me again, "well, Xero, sorry but to tell you the truth we weren't expecting you to last five seconds with him. But when you busted out some of those awesome moves and tore him up, the room was completely silent then when you landed next to his smoldering AC and pointed your gun at him and said, "you lose Nexus" the room went into an uproar. Then after you turned around and hit your overboost back this way the whole room was screaming! We were blown away completely man! We decided to have a party for you and everything."  
  
"just because I beat the number 1 raven?" well, I beat the number 1 raven! That's enough reason for me to celebrate!  
  
"well everybody likes Nexus but he was getting a little cocky, the way he took the arena by storm and beat the last A-1 raven in about twenty seconds, but that's not the point. It was getting irritating how nobody could ever put him in his place! And well that is half the reason why were having this little party."  
  
"and the other half?" I asked with an eyebrow raised.  
  
"well, we got to see one of the best movies we've seen in quite a few years!" he started laughing like hell and stood from his seat then went back to the group he had come from.  
  
"oh, my, GOD!!!" I slammed my head down on the table again and angel tried to pat me on the shoulder again but missed and hit the back of my head, hard. "well, whatever. Might as well enjoy myself then." I looked around the room at all of the ravens sitting together and having a good time. I picked up my glass and topped it off.  
  
One guy jumped up on top of a table a few minutes later and yelled a few times to get everyone's attention.  
  
"that's Shade, he's the A-6 ranked raven. He used to be A-3 until the arena expanded." Morrow bent over the table to tell me.  
  
The guy on the table started talking to someone on the ground in front of him then stamped on the table again to get everyone's attention again. "ok everybody! I need the raven now known as. Xero to step up here!" when he said "Xero" he jabbed his finger up into the air and almost fell off the table.  
  
Oh god, what does he want from me? I rolled my eyes and stood up to walk over to him. I walked over to him and i could almost feel everybody's eyes digging into me. when i got to him he motioned his arm for me to get on the table.  
  
I got up on the table and he hooked his arm around my neck. "what's wrong Xero? Huh? I mean wees all 'aving a gud time. We'r all drunk here so com- on 'ave a good time." he turned his head away and took another drink, which was a good thing because his breath was killing me. "well, in a fuw minut, we ar gona show his good thow againe." with that he patted me on the back and almost fell over in his attempt to get off of the table.  
  
I walked back to the table with morrow and what was left of the conscious angel. "so i get to relive that whole mission again. O-boy." i looked around the room again and then back to morrow. "hey morrow."  
  
He looked up from his glass of wine which he was swirling around in the cup. "ya?"  
  
"have you seen Dash? Where is that guy? I haven't seen him."  
  
"you saw him this-morning. remember he said he had some business to-" he was interrupted as angel collapsed onto the table. "-to take care of. Remember how he got pissed when we asked him what was up?" he returned to his wine.  
  
"ya i remember, but i have a bad feeling. Why would he get mad at us for asking?" i looked over at Angel, who was now unconscious on the table. "so, nobody was seriously injured on the mission then?"  
  
"nope." that was all i got, along with a shrug. "i dont know how but none of us were injured."  
  
then i wonder why it was so hard for angel to talk to me earlier? She sounded hurt over the com. I decided to change the subject a bit. "hey morrow, what kind of AC does Dash have?"  
  
"he has the fastest AC I've ever seen. Its got the PETAL hover legs, a light weigh, overboost core, and a pretty good head. His weapons are the SAMURAI beam-blade arms, a small missile launcher, and a chain gun."  
  
"sounds pretty nice. What kind of chaingun?"  
  
"the 300 round one." his eyes went over to the table that shade was on earlier along with everyone else's. A new raven was back on the table.  
  
"ok guys, we are starting the recording again! Those who want to watch, gather around the TV!" he shouted then jumped off and walked over to join the rest of the ravens at the wall screen television.  
  
"morrow, you gonna watch?"  
  
"ya i am. I missed it the first time."  
  
"well, I'm not, i got enough of a show the first time around. so what are we gonna do with her?" i pointed towards angel.  
  
He started laughing. "i don't know. i say we leave her here. We don't know where she lives or anything. And its not like anything's gonna happen to her while she's here." he stood up to join the others.  
  
"you really think that's what we should do? That just doesn't seem right to me."  
  
"well, you can't take her home with you, dumbass. You live five hours away! What do you want to do?"  
  
"well, as her friends we can't leave her here."  
  
"damnit. Well i guess we could call around?" he looked greatly disappointed.  
  
"look, you watch your show and I'll go and get some dinner for us. Blaze too, where is she?" i looked over and sure enough there she was, passed out on a table on the other side of the room.  
  
"well, shit..." he saw her too. "Well, what do we do about them?"  
  
"well where does Angel normally live? Does she garage in Cercall or Zenith?"  
  
"who cares?" he shrugged his shoulders.  
  
"holy Christ morrow. Geez your heartless." i laughed a bit with him.  
  
"ok, well, its not like you can bring them back with us! What should we do about them?"  
  
"Well, we might have to bring them back with us. We cant just leave them here unconscious at the mercy of the next horny bastard that walks by." that though crossed my mind after watching all of the other women that were hanging on me at first long since had drunk their cares away and had been seen being escorted into separate rooms by multiple other men.  
  
"why not?" he was obviously ignorant to the point that i had just tried to make.  
  
"what do you mean "why not"? All you have to do to understand is walk over to the door, put your ear on the door and listen!" i pointed to the closest door that i had seen open not too long ago.  
  
He walked over and put his head against the door. I didn't know why he couldn't believe me but after about thirty seconds his eyes got really wide and I'm pretty sure that if he had no pride or dignity he would run inside. Luckily though he contained both and so he stepped away from the door and back over to me.  
  
"i see your point." he seemed to be a bit uncomfortable in his pants at the moment.  
  
"i thought you would. So what i guess we could do is put the two of them in my truck and then the two of us would take our ACs home and carry the truck."  
  
"that sounds like a really crappy idea but i guess it would work. Is your AC pilotable? I mean does it work?"  
  
"ya, its works fine. I wont be taking it back into battle until i get it repaired, but it will get me home."  
  
"well then i guess that's what we're gonna do."  
  
So morrow walked over to watch the rest of the show and i walked over to blaze, picked her up, and carried her back to where Angel was laying. I sat her next to angel and did my best to prop her up, but to no avail, her breath was intoxicating and she wouldn't sit up straight. So i leaned her up against Angel and left her there.  
  
"morrow, I'm gonna get something to eat, ill be back in a few minutes." i said to the crowd around the giant screen on the wall. I didn't know which glowing hump was morrow but o-well.  
  
I walked down to the cafeteria to get something to eat. I got a big sub- sandwich and paid my 9 credits for it and sat down to eat it.  
  
While i was eating i started thinking about the strange units that i was seeing all over. "am i hallucinating?" i thought to myself. "am i really freaking out and I'm in denial? I don't remember 'freaking out' or doing anything that they described to me?" i thought for a moment, "what's happening? I just don't understand... Well then maybe its too early for me to understand. That's it, I'll give it some time and things will work themselves out. Right? But its gonna be hard to just push this thing aside for now." with that closing thought i finished up my sandwich and then bought another just like it for morrow and walked back to the nest.  
  
As i approached the door, it opened and people started filing out. Among them was morrow who, upon seeing me walking toward the door, walked over.  
  
"did you eat? The shows over. Everybody's calling it a night and heading home." he pointed his thumb back towards the door with people still coming out in pairs.  
  
"good, now we can go home." i held out the bag with the sandwich to morrow.  
  
"mine? sweet, thanks man! I'm starving." he looked into the bag and pulled the sandwich out. "ham and cheese?"  
  
I gave a nod.  
  
"alright, good then. Lets get on home." he spun around with the bag in one hand and the sandwich in the other and plowed through the crowd of people still squeezing through the door.  
  
when we finally made it through the door I noticed something that wasn't there before. "smells like sex in here." i looked over to the booth where we left angel and blaze and I saw blaze laying on the booth seat still passed out apparently, and i saw angel laying all spread out on top of the table on her back. Also passed out. "morrow! You guys did not do what i think you did!" i turned to him.  
  
"wha?" he looked over towards the pair at the booth. "oh no no no! we didn't do anything! Well, i caught a couple of guys over there that moved them but i put a stop to that before they could do anything!"  
  
"oh Jesus... Lets get them out of here."  
  
"fair enough." he sat down. "let me eat first."  
  
"ya alright." i pulled angel down and sat her up on the bench, i sat blaze up as well then sat down myself.  
  
Morrow was dissecting his sandwich, taking off the tomatoes, the pickles and half the lettuce. After which he proceeded to suck down the sandwich.  
  
"holy Christ morrow! Your like a snake! You just unhook your jaw and stuff it all in!" he took the whole 12 inch sandwich in about six bites.  
  
"that was really good. Thanks Xero." he leaned back and patted himself on the stomach.  
  
"you swallowed all that? Geezus, whatever, lets go." i stood up and then turned around and picked up angel, morrow picked up blaze. "follow me." i walked out of the room.  
  
We walked down to the elevator and out to the parking lot. I walked to my truck and carefully opened the door. After putting angel inside and buckling the seatbelt around her, i motioned my arm for morrow to bring blaze around to the other side. He opened the door and put blaze inside and buckled her in as well. I pushed angel over so that the two of them were leaning on each other.  
  
"hey morrow." i whispered, not wanting to wake them up. "should we leave them a note or anything?"  
  
"why bother?"  
  
"well, i for one don't want to face the wrath of two women. That is enough reason but in addition they will probably have hangovers and they are waking up inside of a truck that will be moving at 400+ mph at 20 feet in the air."  
  
"i see your point." he pulled out his PDA and typed something quickly then put it on the dashboard. It magnetically stuck there with its screen light illuminating the cab. "there. If they wake up they'll check that and it'll be fine."  
  
we closed the doors and i locked the truck. "so morrow, what did you put on there?"  
  
"how to use the communicator in your truck and how to set it to your ACs frequency."  
  
"damn you." i laughed as we walked away. "so now when they wake up I'll get bitched at instead of you."  
  
"that's the point." he laughed at me.  
  
"well, someday you'll learn morrow. There are advantages to being nice to women."  
  
"like what?" and that sparked it off, we argued the entire way back to the garage to get our ACs.  
  
I ran back to the repair area and got the note out of the office and ran back across the bridge, up the ramp and onto my ACs core. I walked up to the cockpit hatch and typed in my password. The hatch responded with a slight hissing sound followed by the hydraulic hum as the hatch swung up and open.  
  
I jumped inside and strapped myself in as before.  
  
"good evening Xero."  
  
"good evening revolution. Start the AC please."  
  
"yes sir." and i could here the electro-static, nuclear generator start up and begin pumping energy to all parts of the AC. "revolution has battle damage, would you like a report?"  
  
"save it for later, revolution." i said as i put the gloves, and the suit on. afterwards the platform broke apart and became braces around my legs.  
  
"do we have an emergency mission, Xero?" the computer droned on.  
  
"no, but i would just like to get home as soon as possible. please activate mobile mode."  
  
"affirmative. All weapon energy re-routed to boosters."  
  
"lets go then." i pushed a button on my pilot suit that opened a comm. channel. "morrow, you ready?" i stepped out of the repair stall.  
  
"I'm waiting by the parking lot. Do i carry the truck or will you?"  
  
"ill carry it. You've been drinking and you look pretty tired." i walked out of the hangar and back into the star conquered night.  
  
"whatever, your choice." i boosted around the building and over to the parking lot and sure enough, there was morrow standing over my truck.  
  
"alright, lets go." i stopped boosting and walked over to the truck and picked it up. I turned back to morrow. "which way is it?"  
  
"north, lets go." he turned and started boosting through the city, weaving in and out of buildings. I followed closely behind, being careful not to hit my truck on anything or go too hard on it. We didn't need to smash the two of them into my interior.  
  
We continued boosting until we were clear of the city. Once we cleared the final buildings i saw the back of morrow's core start to glow and build up energy. Shortly after it exploded with red plasma energy and he shot forward at sound breaking speed. I wanted to do the same but as i was carrying some "vital equipment" i didn't want to take any chances. If i hit my overboost it could rip the car apart or the G-forces could kill them.  
  
morrow, after a while stopped using his overboost and let me catch up to him. I estimated that we were about half-an-hour from home when my comm. lit up.  
  
"XERO!!!!!"  
  
"who is this?" then i checked the source, it was coming from about two meters away. The truck.  
  
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!!?? WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!?? I JUST WOKE UP IN A TRUCK GOING 400 MPH TWO STORIES IN THE AIR!!!!" it was angel, and i was dead.  
  
"hey calm down angel, we're going home, its no big deal. You and blaze are in the truck and morrow and i are in our ACs. I'm carrying you home."  
  
"home?!?! I live at the garage! I don't have a house of my own!"  
  
"well, we didn't know where either of you lived so we were just gonna bring you back to my house and you guys could stay there until you decided to go back home. You could stay at my house for awhile if you want. I don't mind the company." so, she lived in one of the apartments at the garage. i thought that just about every raven had their own home?  
  
Angel had quieted down for now and I guess blaze was still out cause she didn't make a sound.  
  
"so angel, how come you don't own a house of your own?" I asked about ten minutes later to break the silence.  
  
"well, I just move around so often that a house wouldn't be practical." she was was calm now. despite the occasional stumble in her words as the boosters were activated.  
  
"that makes sense." i never really thought about that. "well angel, i do not plan on selling my house any time soon, simply because i like to have a place that i can call home and a place that i can return to."  
  
silence.  
  
As we entered the city morrow came over the channel again. "well Xero, since this was all your grand idea I'm gonna head on back to the garage and leave them to you. Its been fun!" and he boosted up and hit his overboost to shoot him over the city.  
  
"thanks morrow, real friend-like."  
  
Angel watched him fly away through the window as i began to walk through the city.  
  
It took me about half-an-hour with no traffic to make it to the garage. Once i arrived at the main hanger gate i radioed to the control tower and told them who i was. they opened the gate for me and i proceeded inside after setting the truck on the ground. I walked through to the repair area as i had before in Zenith. Thankfully most of the garages have the same basic layout to make life a little easier for passing ravens. I walked my AC into a stall next to a quadruped AC that was as tall as mine and it had a hole in the core. I wondered how this was possible until i looked down and noticed it standing on the tip of its four legs. There were a few more ACs in the garage but none worth mentioning except for this large heavyweight AC. It had large legs but it had the strangest weapon layout for a heavyweight: it had two strange weapons on each forearm, i guessed that they were beam blades. They were elongated and they were colored black, they split into two long blades at the end. I guessed that the base of the split was where the actual beam extended from. On its back it had two thirty percent ammo additions which made me wonder why it had blades, but i didn't know that they were actually blades in the first place. It had a jet black paint job, there was no other color on it at all.  
  
"i just hope that i never have to face that thing." i thought aloud and then exited my cockpit.  
  
"good night Xero." my computer droned as i powered down the AC.  
  
I stepped back out onto the core and onto the catwalk that crossed all the cores like the one in every other garage did. I walked to the repair office and put the note that i had used before on the desk. Afterwards i left the office and walked to the elevator on the opposite side of the garage. I wasn't paying attention to anything on the bridge except for the black AC i had seen earlier. As I walked by i thought i saw its arm move. That kinda creeped me out, it couldn't have been that hard because it was kinda dark and i was the only one in here that i knew of. So whatever.  
  
I dismissed it and kept walking to the elevator. I stepped inside after the doors opened with a small "hiss". "what floor please?" the computer's female voice rang through the elevator.  
  
"ground floor please." i droned, sounding annoyed partially cause i wasn't in th best mood and partially cause i was tired.  
  
"level 3." the computer chirped and the elevator accelerated upwards, giving me that crushing feeling again.  
  
After about twenty seconds i heard a loud "DING" 3 telling me that i had reached the desired floor. I stepped out of the elevator with the familiar hiss and looked both ways to find a way out. The garages were mostly laid out the same but i had never tried to exit the building coming from the AC side.  
  
It took me about ten minutes (i work fast) to find a familiar way out. Once i was out i started walking back to the truck, which was easily on the opposite side of the building. I started running around the garage, then lessened to a jog and then back to a walk. I kept up a brisk walk for about fifteen more minutes until i had the truck in sight.  
  
I got in and saw that Blaze was sleeping happily in the backseat and Angel, barely awake, in the passenger seat with her arms crossed over her chest.  
  
"it took you long enough." angel said looking up at me when i got in, then she returned to looking forward.  
  
"i have never docked in the AC side of the garage before." i replied as i started the truck. It responded by giving an excited roar as it came to life.  
  
"whatever." she looked back at blaze. "i guess we're both staying with you tonight." she said in a tone that made it more a question than a statement.  
  
"is there anywhere else you had in mind?" i asked as i pulled the truck out of the parking lot.  
  
"no, where else do you think we should stay?" her head dropped a bit then she quickly picked it back up.  
  
"well unless you feel like paying for a hotel? You could stay at my house. Its not like i have a trashy place or anything. i live in a nice neighborhood with a good home. Its got plenty if room. Yesterday , all four of us stayed there. Us meaning dash, blaze, Morrow, and myself of course."  
  
"I never said that your house was trashy or anything. I just... Nevermind."  
  
"um... Well ok. Ill tell you when we get to my house, we have a good forty minutes at least back to my house."  
  
"why so long?"  
  
"we have to get through the city and then we have to get to Trene, then through there to my house."  
  
"well, tell me when we get there."  
  
I looked over and angel had her head on the window and she had her eyes closed. She was sound asleep. 


	6. Rescue Operations

Chap 6 rescue  
  
I drove on for about an hour. I took it slow, i wasn't in any real hurry to get there. It was funny but i didn't mind driving home with these two at all. I would look back at blaze, sleeping silently with a happy look on her face. She had layed down in the backseat and had her arms pulled close for warmth. Then i would look over at angel who hadn't moved at all, she had wrapped herself in my jacket from the backseat and had her head against the window. Her face was stoic, no emotion showed on her features. She wasn't smiling, she didn't look angry or sad. she was sleeping silently, her chest rose slowly with her every intake of breath and dropped again with every exhale.  
  
When we did finally get to my house it was well past 11:00 o'clock and pushing midnight. I pulled into my driveway and stayed there for a moment. I looked over the two of them for a moment and felt guilty knowing i would have to wake them up to get them inside. I decided against waking them up for now and instead left the car running with the heater on. I got out and locked the doors. I walked up to my front door and placed my thumb on the sensor. The door responded by clicking open, allowing me entrance. I stepped in and proceeded upstairs to the guestrooms. I made sure that the beds were ready by pulling back the tops of the blankets, letting them easily slip under the covers. After this was done i went back to the truck and, very carefully, unlocked and opened the passenger side door. I caught angel as she slid out.  
  
"wha? Are we there?" she asked half asleep as i carried her into the house.  
  
"sssshhhhh. Go back to sleep. Were home." i carried her upstairs to the first room and slipped her into the bed. She went without protest and i pulled her shoes off then pulled the blankets up to her neck. she fell right back to sleep.  
  
I went back outside to the truck. I closed the passenger door and walked around to the driver side. I turned the car off and pushed the seat forward to allow me to get to blaze. I unclipped her seatbelt and picked her up. I carefully maneuvered her out of the car, being careful not to knock her head on anything. I got her out and closed the door with my foot. I walked her back inside the house.  
  
"close." i said as i passed through the doorway and the door closed behind me.  
  
I walked up the flight of stairs again and to the third bedroom, the second was mine. I placed her on top of the bed and pulled her shoes off and pulled her feet back so i could get her under the blankets. She didn't make any movements at any time that this was happening.  
  
"you sleep like a rock, blaze." i pulled the blankets up to her chin and left the room.  
  
I walked to my room and pulled my clothes off. I threw them into the basket and climbed into my bed. my head hit the pillow and i was sleeping.  
  
The alarm went of at 5:30 as always and i promptly threw it across the room. A few minutes after this i decided to get up and face the unescapable day and hours of work ahead. I slid out of bed and slumped my way to the shower in an attempt to wake myself up. I took off whatever flimsy clothing still lathed my body and stepped into the shower. I turned on the cold water and let it run over me. I woke rather quickly in response to the cold water rushing down on me. I was about to turn the water off when i remembered all that had happened the previous day. I was a raven now, i didn't have to get up at this un-godly hour anymore! I could get up when i want... from now on. It was already too late to save this morning as i was already wide awake. So instead of turning the water off i turned it to hot and enjoyed a nice, long, twenty minute shower; a luxury i had not allowed myself in a very long while.  
  
thus sated from the shower i exited my bathroom and headed downstairs to the laundryroom to dress myself. I wrapped a towel around my waist and walked downstairs. As i stepped off the spiral staircase i walked through the kitchen.  
  
"good morning." a yawning but cheery Blaze said to me as i jumped a foot into the air. "hey now, don't lose that towel. We wouldn't want any unnecessary conversation starters to 'pop up', now would we?" she started laughing.  
  
"no i don't think that would be a good thing." i regained myself and saved the towel. "what are you doing up at six o'clock?"  
  
"I've always been an early starter." something dinged in the background. "oh, you want some coffee? Sorry but you have my favorite kind. I couldn't help myself." she stood from her barstool and walked back to the coffee maker by the micro-wave.  
  
"ya, i would like some, thanks." i said as i continued through the kitchen to finally get some clothes on.  
  
"no need to thank me, its your coffee!" she giggled a little more as she started searching the cubboards for the coffee-cups.  
  
I made it to the laundryroom and grabbed some jeans and a gray t-shirt. I stepped back to the kitchen and saw blaze now looking for sugar and cream.  
  
"let me help you." i walked over and stood behind blaze at the fridge. "I keep it in the back so company doesn't steal it, I like the good stuff that everybody likes." i reached my arm over her shoulder as i said this and grabbed the hidden bottle of coffee creamer in the back of the fridge. "and the sugar is in that cupboard over there." i pointed to my spice cupboard across the kitchen as I stepped back to the table. I sat in the chair next to one of the steaming cups of coffee.  
  
"which ones the sugar?" she giggled a little more at her inability to find anything.  
  
"the small white bowl with a matching lid. It has a little spoon sticking out of it too." I answered her question as I poured a small amount of the white liquid into my cup.  
  
"I thought it was that one." she grabbed the bowl and walked back to the table.  
  
"you really don't need sugar with this kind of cream and this blend of coffee." I pointed out to her as she sat down and prepared to dump a large spoonful of sugar into her cup.  
  
"I have always liked sugar in my coffee, whether it was sweet or sour, Light or dark." she poured the sugar in and mixed it with the coffee. "can you pass the creamer please?"  
  
"oh, ya sure." I picked up the bottle and unscrewed the cap. "here ya go."  
  
"thank you." she smiled and yawned again as she took the bottle from my hand. "I like this place. Its really nice and clean; one would think that a woman lived here as well." she laughed quietly under her breath. "Its really comfortable here. I dont know why but it just is." she put her spoon in her coffee and swirled it around a bit. "ive never owned a house of my own. I have always just traveled around wherever work takes me." she paused for a moment. "but i always came back to Cercall. Ive always found my way back. I guess that garage has been my home more than anything else ever has."  
  
"well, i bought this place because i never warmed up to the idea of living in a garage apartment. This place is too big for me. This place gets kinda creepy sometimes. The house really isn't THAT big but when theres just one person living here..." i took a drink of my coffee.  
  
"i know how that is." blaze took another sip as well. "when i was growing up my family was very wealthy. My father was a corperate excecutive and my mother was his secratary." she took another drink before she continued. "its kinda funny how that worked out. Anyway, we lived in a huge house. It was enourmous, any bigger and it would have been a mansion. My father definetly wore the pants in the family. And because of her position, whenever my father had to work, my mother had to as well. My father worked a lot. most of the day he was at work. Which meant my mother was as well. Which left me alone at home. I had no brothers or sisters. There was only the housekeeper that was here to keep me company, and she wasn't very good at it. She was usually very busy with cleaning the house and she often got in trouble for not doinng her job when she was helping me."  
  
"i understand." i took another deep drink. "i never knew my parents. They died about two weeks after i was born. i dont usually like to talk about it." i took another drink.  
  
"thats fine. Im not trying to push you into any uncomfortable subjects." she did the same.  
  
"i know." i looked up and around for a second, kinda've looking for something to talk about. "so how did you sleep?" i didnt really like those awkward silences.  
  
She took another sip of the coffee. "i slept fine. how did we get here though?" she laughed a little under her breath. "the last thing i remember is talking to some people about the mission at the garage." she drank again.  
  
"well after you and angel passed out, morrow wanted to leave you there." i laughed a little. "i couldn't do that consiously so i carried angel and morrow carried you down to the parking lot and to my truck. We put you both inside and i carried the truck to Cercall with my AC. Morrow followed me there and then he ditched us as soon as we got to Cercall."  
  
"jerk." she took one last deep drink. "you want any more?" she held up her cup.  
  
"oh, No thank you. But could you..." i quickly took the last large drink of mine and held the cup out to her. "put this in the sink for me?"  
  
She gave another underbreath laugh. "sure." she took the cup and walked to the sink.  
  
"then after he was gone i carried you guys to the garage, docked my AC, and then ran around the garage back to the truck. i got in and drove here from Cercall."  
  
Blaze had finished with the cups and sat back into her chair next to me.  
  
"when i got here, you guys were still sleeping so i unlocked the house and just carried each of you in and put you in bed."  
  
"ohh, how nice." she cooed then started laughing.  
  
"shuttup! I wasn't gonna leave you there. And you didn't make one sound, blaze. The whole time i was moving you, you didn't make one peep. I would've thought you were dead if you weren't breathing."  
  
"i know, i know. I was just messing with you. And ya im not surprised. I have always slept like a log." she patted me on the back and stood up to stretch. After a big yawn she asked, "hey, can i watch some TV?"  
  
"ya sure. The remote should be around or in the couch somewhere."  
  
"thanks." she started walking over to the liviing room. She stuck her head back through the doorway. "hey, did you know that your computer is Blinking?" and her head disappeared behind the doorway again.  
  
"oh, i have mail." i stood up and walked over to the computer in the living room. As i walked in i saw blaze searching for the remote. when i looked over, sure enough, there was the small yellow light on the computer strobing on and off. I walked over and took a seat at the comp. "lets just have a looksy." i opened up my mail option and, to my surprise, was not bombarded with porno spam. I had three new mails. I clicked the first mail from the Cortex, it read:  
  
"to Xero, Congratulations on your completion of the raven test. We are also glad to see that you have, so far, a 100% mission completion rate. Because of this we will be giving you special regard when we get any particulary difficult mission requests."  
  
Oh great! Special regard? So they are going to give me special request for all the hard missions they get. And a 100% mission completion!? I've only been on one mission! Oh jesus... I clicked the next mail from my old supervisor, Charlie:  
  
"Xero, i just got the news and i saw the repair crews working on what i guessed was your AC. I thought that the heavy-mid weight with the gold, white, and blue paint job would be yours. Anyway, I'm glad to hear about your advancement and i am being sent a copy of your test by a friend of mine. Can't wait to see it." best of luck, Charlie.  
  
!!! Being sent a copy! oh my GOD! How many people are gonna see that? And they are working on my AC already? I know that charlie gets up early but i guess that the repair crews get up even earlier. I opened up the last mail which intrigued me because it didn't say who it was from.  
  
"Xero, i have recently heard of your advancement to the AC platform and i am prepared full-well to keep my word to you." who the hell is this? "i cannot however upgrade all of your ACs at the same time. So i will accept your AC first for upgrades. After which i will do the same to your allies ACs. Meet me in front of the garage nest in Cercall city at 7:00 pm tomorrow evening."  
  
"sweet!" i shot my fist into the air.  
  
Blaze stuck her head above the couch. "how many times a day must a full grown adult yell 'sweet'?"  
  
"Thats the mechanic from the other day. I completely forgot about that guy." tomorrow. I wonder if they will have my AC done by tomorrow?  
  
"hey everybody." angel was making her way down the stairs with one of my robes on.  
  
blaze popped up from the couch. "well good morning. How did you sleep? Did you take a shower?"  
  
"ya i took one, i had to and i slept fine, how about you guys?"  
  
"we both slept good. Do you want some coffee? The pot is in the maker and the stuff is on the table if you do."  
  
i shut-down the computer and stood to stretch. I looked at the two of them: angel was standing at the base of the stairs looking at me. Then i looked at blaze who was sitting on the couch with her arms crossed over the top of the couch and her head resting on them looking at me.  
  
i just stood there with a sideways grin on my face and my arms outstretched above my head. "this is awkward. so, uhh, what do you guys feel like doin' today?"  
  
They looked at each otherthen back at me smiling.  
  
"what?"  
  
They both laughed. Blaze spun around on the couch and flipped through the channels, coming to some morning cartoons. Angel walked over towards me, "how about we do a whole bunch of nothing." she patted me on the shoulder and walked to the kitchen for some coffee. "Xero, do you have anything to eat?"  
  
"open your eyes, you'll find plenty of food. i always try to keep plenty of food on hand."  
  
We didn't do much of anything the rest of the day. At four o'clock we all drove in to the city and i checked on my AC and the other two called to have their AC shipped over to Cercall garage. My AC had almost all the armour removed and the weapons were gone. I went to talk with the repair manager.  
  
I walked up to a middle aged looking man with blue overalls, a blue hat, and holding a clipboard. He has looking up at the AC and directing the workers. He looked up as i got closer. "hello sir, are you..." he glanced at the clipboard, "Xero, correct? And you are the owner of this AC?"  
  
"yes i am. And your name is?"  
  
"im James. Nice to meet you Xero." he stuck his hand out.  
  
i shook his hand and continued. "so, how much longer would you say the repairs are gonna take?"  
  
"well, we started pretty early, so i think that it should be done pretty soon. Maybe 4 hours or so."  
  
"alright, well as long as it is done by tomorrow night."  
  
"got more plans already?"  
  
"kinda."  
  
"alright then. It will be done by tonight so don't worry about it." he looked back at the clipboard and then back up at Revolution. "HEY YOU JACKASS!!! Thats part of the left shoulder armour! You dumbass, cant you see the rift for the lower half there!? No wonder it wont fit on there!" i jumped about six inches into the air and thought he was yelling at me. Then i looked from the AC to him and saw him looking at a man standing on the right shoulder, guiding a crane with an armour plate. The worker was startled as well and had to catch himself on the armour before falling off. The supervisor looked back at me, "dont worry Xero. I'll make sure that they get her together right. I know these ACs from the inside out. Ill have them refill the ammo on your shotguns and rifle too, OK?"  
  
"alright and I had a machine gun that got destroyed, it was one of the eight-hundred rounders."  
  
"ok, ill have them bring one over."  
  
"I'll probably see you later."  
  
"c'ya."  
  
I walked back to the nest where angel and blaze were waiting for me. I stepped inside and found blaze and angel sitting at the same Booth as the night before. I walked over and took a seat. "hey, did you call in on your ACs?"  
  
"ya, we called but they were already half-done with the repairs, so we are gonna wait until they are finished to have them moved over." blaze answered.  
  
"so are you ready to go?" angel spoke up.  
  
"ya, i talked to the repair manager. My AC should be done by tonight."  
  
"well, i guess we could head back home then?" blaze stood and stretched.  
  
"did you gts get your stuff out of the apartments?" they were gonna stay with me for a while. No sense in them paying for a room each when i have two free ones.  
  
"well, blaze got he s and they are gonna send mine with my AC tomorrow."  
  
"Alright, well if you guys are ready, i have nothing to do so, ya, we could leave."  
  
"then lets go." angel stood, stretched, and pointed to the door.  
  
So leave we did.  
  
"Why do i have to sit in the back!?" angel bitched when i informed her as we aproached the truck.  
  
"because you always sit in the back. Well, not always, but every time we have been in the car you have had shotgun. I figured it was blazes turn. Its really no big deal."  
  
"i am a full grown woman, i don't sit 'in the back'."  
  
"So is blaze."  
  
Blaze was walking behind us the whole time and she didnt say a thing. Her head would move from angel to me as we traded off arguments. "I'll sit in the middle if angel has that much trouble with the backseat and you insist on my sitting in the front."  
  
"but? Dont you want to sit in the front?"  
  
"sure i do, thats why i said the middle and not the back."  
  
"i cant believe we're arguing about this!" angel interrupted.  
  
Angel ended up sitting in the front and Blaze in the middle. Which i didn't mind at all. We drove all around the city trying to find somewhere to eat. After an hour and after passing the same office building three times we said screw-it and decided to go home.  
  
"well one would think that you would know the city that you WORK IN!!!" angel exclamed.  
  
"hey, no need to yell." i pointed to blaze who was sleeping on my shoulder. "i only know how to get to the garage. And if it wasn't because the garage is HUGE then i probably wouldn't know where it was either. Its not my fault you didn't want to eat at the garage."  
  
"o- whatever. And there is perfect reason to yell, i dont care if 'your girl' is sleeping!"  
  
!  
  
"what do you mean 'my girl'? what the fuck angel? Ive known her for three years and ive known you for a week. No need to get jealous." i started laughing hysterically.  
  
"o, you little bastard." she folded her arms and looked out the window. She stayed this way for the rest of the way home.  
  
when we finaly made it to the driveway angel got out and slammed the door, waking up blaze.  
  
"hey dont rip it off the hinges! Jesus Christ..." i turned the car off and looked to blaze. I snickered again at angels last remark.  
  
"what?" she said yawning.  
  
"nothing."  
  
"whats her problem?" she nodded her head toward angel as she stretched.  
  
"her? Well, ill tell you sometime." i opened the door and got out then held the door for blaze.  
  
"o..k... Whatever. Ill remind you someday."  
  
I laughed a little. "sure."  
  
We walked up to the door where angel was waiting for me to unlock it. "did you see how i closed the door? Thats how you do it."  
  
"shuttup and open the door."  
  
"alright. What do you plan to do once we're inside?" i moved forward to open the door.  
  
"i am going to go to the backyard and relax."  
  
"whatever." the door clicked open and angel pushed me aside as she walked in. i looked down at blaze who looked at me and just shrugged. We parted ways when we got inside: blaze to the TV, i to the computer, and angel was laying on a loung chair in the backyard. non of us really interacted much for the rest of the day. I didn't eat dinner, blaze had a little cereal, and angel didn't eat either. At about 7 angel came in and announced she was going to bed after a bath. at about 9 i told blaze that i was going to take a shower and then head to bed.  
  
"dont stay up too late." i said as i walked up the stairs.  
  
"ok, dad."  
  
"shuttup! Not my fault i care." i could hear her laughing as i stepped into my room.  
  
I took a shower and then slid into bed. I layed there for awhile. After a while i heard the TV turn off downstairs and hurried foorsteps. I was wondering why blaze was hurrying but i didn't really care as i slipped into sleep.  
  
"XERO!!"  
  
"am i gonna get to sleep tonight!?" i sat up in my bed. "what Blaze?!"  
  
she ran into my room holding the phone. "its morrow. Apparently we pissed Crest off more than we thought we did."  
  
"what?" Im awake now. "what are you talking about?"  
  
"morrow just called, says he is in a holding facility somewhere behind the old silent line."  
  
"how the hell did he call? Whatever, c'mon lets go." I jumped out of bed and threw some clothes on. "ill have to go alone, you guys wont have your ACs till tomorrow."  
  
"your taking your AC?" she seemed surprised.  
  
"well, ya, what do you think im gonna do? Walk up and ask them to let him go? I'm gonna bust him out."  
  
"whatever, is your AC repaired?"  
  
"it should be. The repair manager said that it would be done by tonight. It better be done or somebody is gonna have hell to pay." I bolted from the room and out to my truck. I jumped in and hit off toward Cercall at 90 mph, leaving both of the girls behind at the house.  
  
Blaze was standing at the door with a fist over her heart. "Good luck Xero."  
  
I was at the garage in 10 minutes. I parked and ran into the garage. "good thing they leave this place open twenty-four seven." I ran past the front desk and went straight to the AC garages. I found Revolution in the third stall over which was lucky for me cause I would've never found it.  
  
"good evening, Xero." The computer said as I opened the hatch and put the suit on.  
  
"good evening Rev, get ready to initiate battle mode. And contact the main office to get us a transport." "alright. Where do we need to be transported?"  
  
that was when I stopped what I was doing and started thinking. "I don't even know where he is. how am I supposed to find him when all I got was his call." That's it. "He called me! I can trace that. Computer, belay the transport order. Hack into the phone systems for Trene city."  
  
It took about fifteen seconds, "done."  
  
"now locate the last call that was made to the number 675-3944."  
  
"confirmed."  
  
"trace that call. Where did it originate from?"  
  
I got an answer about thirty seconds later, "call originated from the Crest penitentiary behind the Silent Line. Corrordinates: Y-54, X-78, north eastern hemisphere."  
  
"that was easier then expected. Computer, save that location data and get us a transport to that area."  
  
"confirmed."  
  
In ten minutes I was in the fastest transport I could get and was on my way to the silent line. The silent line. that place has quite a history: mystery, battles, disappearances. The list goes on. A few years ago a raven was brave enough to go in there and secure a fortress that was found there and then she went into a new layered that was found underground. He went in response to an AI disruption signal that was originating from there. She was dropped in and half an hour later she walked her AC out of that hellhole. That raven had disappeared shortly after the event though only a few believe that she died. That raven is known as Nydem. Most think that she is still alive somewhere.  
  
"raven, get ready, we're almost there." The pilots voice rang through the onboard speakers.  
  
"well, its time." I stepped out of the lounge and into the hanger. I stepped through the doorway and looked upon my AC. It glowed in the dim lights of the hold, the deep gold colors stood out against the white and black. I walked forward and stepped inside the cockpit. I closed my eyes as the thousands of tiny lasers traced my body and the suit tightened to fit me perfectly. I opened my eyes as the inside of the cockpit walls glowed and mirrored the outside world. "I'm ready."  
  
"opening hanger doors. Good luck raven and Godspeed."  
  
I felt the rollers that Revolution was resting on begin to move backward, bringing me out of the transport. I began dropping as I checked the altimeter.  
  
"ground is 500 feet down." The computer warned.  
  
"I got it." And I activated the boosters to slow my decent. I touched down softly and looked around. The silent line had been monopolized after all the threats had been neutralized but there were still strange happenings now and then. "computer, estimate the location of the coordinates saved earlier."  
  
"position located, due east 7 kilometers."  
  
"Gotcha." I turned and hit the overboost.  
  
"Warning." I switched off the overboost. I had been running and overboosting for about ten to fifteen minutes.  
  
"What is it, Rev?" I stopped and looked ahead. I could see a large gray building ahead. There was nothing else around it except for a few hills and some scrap metal that stuck out of the ground. No guard towers, no MTs, nothing.  
  
"Security system detected, if we advance much further we will activate the security measures."  
  
"Good. We'll force through the security then break the building."  
  
"That plan is not advised." The computer warned but I had already picked up my shotguns and hit the overboost.  
  
I had traveled about 500 more meters when my radar went crazy. Red dots, blue dots, yellow dots. They were everywhere.  
  
I looked ahead and saw the ground open and three battle MTs were lifted above ground. "lets rock!" I flew forward and rammed my shoulder armour into the first one. I lifted my shotguns to the other two to my left and right. I fired my shotguns three times, wrecking the two MTs to my sides. Then I jumped above the stunned MT that I rammed and landed on top of it. I pointed my left shotgun down and blew the front of it off. My radar lit up with six blue dots that were moving quite fast. "Missiles." I boosted backwards, leaving the MTs to explode. I looked to my right and sure enough there were at least six missiles coming towards me. I jetted to the left and let two of them fly by me, three hit me and the last flew over my shoulder.  
  
I looked to my right and saw four more heavy MTs coming towards me. But what I saw next I didn't expect: a bright flash further to my right, and I saw a small orange AC in full overboost flying at ungodly speeds toward the MTs. Next thing I knew the MTs were in four pieces each and the AC was floating across from them.  
  
"your pretty brave, trying to take on Crest all by yourself all for a friend."  
  
"that AC. is that you Dash?"  
  
"aww, you got me."  
  
I laughed. "nice entrance. "  
  
"you ready to bust in yet?" he pointed one of his blade arms toward the holding.  
  
"always, but I don't know where they are keeping Morrow. We might kill him on our way in."  
  
"that would be a waste now wouldn't it? It helps to use the resources that are available to ravens. I am sending you a map of the facility, he is in the east block. Now, he is in a wall cell, so if we take out the wall he will have a clear escape."  
  
"ok, but how do we not kill him in the process of taking out he wall?"  
  
"you let me handle that." We waved one of his blade arms around a bit. "you just cover me."  
  
"alright. You ready?"  
  
"I just asked you that." He laughed and hit his overboost, he launched forward and took out five more MTs on his way to the base.  
  
I did the same and switched on my overboost as well, which shot me to the building. Dash got there well before i did and he took out six more battle MTs on his way. I shot out the guard towers that were launching rockets everywhere and especially at dash.  
  
"ya-know, they won't hit me." he said as he reached the wall, and i shortly after.  
  
"well, best not to take chances." i turned and fired three missiles each at two incoming MTs. "hurry and find his cell! I can't hold off an army!"  
  
"im going, i have to trace my map with the wall." he turned the attention of his high powered maping head back to the wall. He began moving his arms up and down the wall , back and forth. "he should be... there!" he activated one of his blades and stabed it into the cement wall the traced a small square into the wall with his blade. The whole time i have my rifle and one shotgun going as fast as they will allow me to fire, picking off targets that got into range. "i got it! the wall is carved, get over here and pull it out."  
  
"alright, your turn to guard!" i put my shotgun away and walked over with my rifle in hand. Dash floated past me and then lowered his AC to the ground and brought his chain gun and small linear cannon over his shoulders and began firing full blast at everything that got too close.  
  
"i thought morrow said that you had a missile launcher instead of that linear gun?" i asked as i used my rifle and blew two big wholes on the outside of the square.  
  
"well i did, but then i used the test arena and found that i was almost as fast as the missiles! So i made a few adjustments and dropped the missile launcher and replaced it with the gun." he fired more chaingun shots into a nearby MT then fired a linear gun round into the chest of another MT, blowing a hole in it.  
  
I put my rifle on the clip and i punched each of my fists into each of the respective holes, knocking out some more wall in the process. After my hands were in i opened my hands and brought them towards each other until i gripped the square. After i had the grip, i pulled the square back and threw it behind me and it crushed the head of an MT Behind me.  
  
"watch where your throwing the stone tablets, Xero! You almost knocked me in the back of the head!"  
  
"'close' only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades." i looked inside and sure enough, there was morrow, gripping the bars on the front of his cell for dear life, trying to rip them off. "hey, morrow, jump in!" i leaned my AC's core in close and opened the hatch but Morrow wasn't moving. "c'mon morrow! Its me Xero! i'm getting shot at here!" it was gradual but eventually he got in. "what the hell happened? Why are you here?"  
  
"you scared the shit out of me! Holy god Xero!"  
  
I turned around and faced dash. "You ready to go yet?"  
  
"Hell yea, let's get the hell out of here!" He fired a few more chaingun rounds into a nearby MT then hit his overboost across the darkened expanse, thus drawing fire away from me. Unfortunately I didn't understand what he was doing exactly. "What are you waiting for Xero? Get moving I'm taking fire for you!"  
  
"Oh! Shit, sorry! I'm moving." I took a few steps out of the wire fencing directly around the compound. "Morrow, I hope your holding on to something!"  
  
"What am I supposed to hold on to?!" He stood underneath me and was looking around the cockpit furiously trying to find something to brace himself with.  
  
"Revolution!"  
  
"Yes sir?"  
  
"Extend the passenger grab bar."  
  
"Yes sir, extending. Be warned that the bar will not be very helpful should an overboost be initiated."  
  
"Yes Rev, I know." Two small bars extended out of the back of the cockpit, one came out a bit further than the one below it.  
  
"Wait, Xero? How is this thing supposed to help me if you guys are going to be over boosting all the way out of here?"  
  
"Would you rather have nothing?! Now hurry and get in those things, dash is almost out completely already!"  
  
"Fine." he jumped up to the first bar and worked his way up so that he was standing on the first bar and he had slid his chest behind the second bar.  
  
"Hold on!" I hit the overboost and listened as the mechanical whine grew louder and louder until exploding with eruptive force out of the back of my AC. I shot forward at an excess of 500 mph. I could hear morrow's bloody cries of terror as he was being pushed into the cockpit screens behind me. "I'm on my way dash!"  
  
"Hurry up, your gonna get all kinds of fire for waiting for so long."  
  
I veered slightly to the left as a pair of rockets impacted the ground where I was. "Yea, I know." I continued dodging weapons fire, paying special attention to the rockets, which were easily the hardest hitting weapon on the field. I let go of the overboost to allow my generator to rest. When I landed I unclipped my sniper rifle and one of the shotguns. I looked to the left and fired a sniper bullet into the chest of a nearing MT; the MT stopped in its tracks and fell flat backwards. Next I looked to me right and unloaded four shotgun blasts into another nearing MT, the MT's head and right arm fell clean off because of the structural damage. The MT proceeded to fall forward and explode. I checked my gauges, with the generator being fully charged I turned back to my original direction and engaged my overboost. Again, I was shot forward and toward dash, who was zipping this way and that, dodging and slicing.  
  
"Where are you Xero!? I can't hold this up much longer!" He took another hit to the left side of his core as he said this.  
  
"I'm right here!" I sped right in front of dash, taking three or four rifle shots for him in the process. I switched off the overboost and spun around to face the opposite direction and started firing my rifle and shotgun relentlessly into the crowd of high-end MTs that were pursuing me. I managed to take out five or six before they began to gain ground. Dash jumped in front of me and lowered his chaingun.  
  
"GO!!! I'll hold them off as long as I can! You get out of here, I can outrun these guys, you can't!" He started firing his cannon, sweeping left to right in a slow pattern, taking out MTs that were impaled by the massive bullets.  
  
"What are you doing dash!? You can't take them all out!"  
  
"Stop trying to play the hero damnit! Just go!"  
  
Damn him. And who's trying to play the hero here? He has a good point though. "Dash! If I don't see you in the nest tomorrow, I'm gonna hunt you down and kick your ass! You hear me?"  
  
"Yea, yea, I got ya." he started laughing a bit under his breath.  
  
Damn you dash; you better make it out of here. I looked once more before my overboost readied to shoot me away and I saw dash lower his cannon and charge forward with his blades heated. I turned forward and made my way back to the garage. Morrow had passed out long before so it made for a quiet trip.  
  
- -- --- back at the compound -- -  
  
"Sir!" The soldier came to attention upon entering the presence of his senior officer.  
  
"At ease, soldier. Report!"  
  
the soldier lowered his hand and locked his hands together behind his back and spread his legs to present a more powerful stance. He proceeded with the report, "The subject has rescued his companion as planned. But his accomplice appears to still be fighting on the grounds."  
  
"Still fighting huh? He must be holding our forces back while the subject can escape. this may work out better than planned for us. Capture the AC that is still fighting and bring me the pilot, he could prove to be a well placed ally. I will bring him to Cataclysma." The officer sat back in his chair to think.  
  
"But, sir. he will never come willingly if he is doing this for a friend." The soldier pointed out.  
  
The officer sat forward in his chair again. "True, true. But have any of us come willingly? Cataclysma has ways of bending a person's will. now, give the order!" The officer sat again back in his chair.  
  
"Yes sir." The soldier left the room briskly.  
  
- -- ---back at the garage (7 hours later) -- -  
  
I docked my AC in the repair garage, much to the repair manager's horror.  
  
"Holy shit, boy!!!" He looked like he was having a heart attack. "I was damn proud of the way that AC glowed in the lights! And now look what you've done! You gotta slow down!!" his eyes traced up and down Revolutions battered armour and scolded paint.  
  
"Sorry buddy, but I had some urgent business to attend to." I pulled morrow out of the top cockpit hatch. "This monkey got imprisoned by Crest, and I had to bail him out."  
  
"ya'know, you could go to prison yourself for that little stunt."  
  
"they imprisoned him for something he did on a mission."  
  
"Oh, well that's a different story. A raven has the freedom to do whatever he or she desires so long as they are engaged in a mission." The mechanic recited.  
  
"I know the law! Explain that to Crest." I pulled morrow down from the AC, sat him on the catwalk and leaned him against the guardrail. "C'mon morrow, wake up you jackass!" I slapped him across the face.  
  
"Oooh, bitch-slap!" The manager joked.  
  
But after I slapped him, morrow awoke and returned the favor.  
  
"Oooh, gut-check!" The mechanic joked again.  
  
I keeled over onto my knees and clutched my stomach. "What was that for morrow!? Holy god that hurts!" I fell back and sat on the catwalk with my back leaning on the guardrail across from morrow.  
  
"Well, first you scared the ever-living shit out of me with your little break out." He sat up and rubbed the side of his face. "And second, you just hit me!"  
  
"But why hit me harder?"  
  
"Well, you got two points on me and that will be a lesson not to ever do that again."  
  
We both laughed.  
  
- -- --- back with Dash -- -  
  
An orange and silver AC lay destroyed on the ground. Both of the back weapons destroyed, the left half of the hover leg unit is missing, and the left side of the core is melted away along with the arm.  
  
The pilot is unconscious.  
  
The shadow of a bloodthirsty AC looms over the defeated. 


	7. Filling Debts

Chap 7  
  
I got up and helped morrow stand up shortly after stretching myself out. "where you live morrow?"  
  
"I got my own house in the city. But thanks for caring." He smiled and walked past me.  
  
"what do you mean, 'thanks for caring'? I just saved your ass! I want to make sure you make it home ok! Gezzus."  
  
"your like a chick, Xero. If it is all that important you can hold my hand all the way home if you like?"  
  
"your such an ass. Where did your AC go anyway?"  
  
"its in the garage. Somewhere in here." he waved his hand above his head in a circle. "they picked me up when I was driving home."  
  
"well, you want me to drive you home?"  
  
"no thanks, I don't think they will try anything two days in a row, hehe." He kinda gave a sickened laugh under his breath and turned again to walk away.  
  
"well, later then. Hope you make it back alright."  
  
He threw one hand above his head to show that he heard me and continued down the catwalk.  
  
"well, he's a friendly one ain't he?" the repair manager spoke up.  
  
"yea, he tries." I gave a short laugh that more resembled a snort. "so, you think you could have this thing repaired by noon tomorrow?"  
  
"wha-?!" he looked up and down Revolution quickly. "well, if I started on it now I might be able to. yea I'll get going as soon as I'm done with this one." He motioned his clipboard toward the lightweight AC that was in front of him. The cockpit hatch was open and had a multitude of wires running from inside the cockpit to the back of the computer console that the veteran mechanic was working on now.  
  
"how much longer do you think it will be?"  
  
he looked up at me with a sideways glance that said: 'are you trying to push me?'  
  
"I'm not trying to rush or annoy or anything but I just have an appointment here tomorrow at noon and I am pretty sure I am going to need my AC repaired."  
  
"I'll get to it alright?" he continued back to his computer.  
  
"alright thanks. I owe you one."  
  
"yea I know."  
  
I turned to leave, and walked back past Revolution in the other direction. I approached the elevator and stepped inside after the hissing of the doors.  
  
"what level please?' the smooth computer voice said as I stepped to the back and leaned against the back wall.  
  
"ground floor please." I crossed my arms, leaned back against the back wall of the circular elevator, relaxed my head and closed my eyes. I wonder what happened to dash?  
  
"ground floor." The voice said as the doors hissed open.  
  
I stepped out and into the hallway. I followed the hallway and ended up in the front office that I had registered to become a raven only days before. I walked through the office and out into the parking lot. I proceeded to my truck and started it up. I let it sit and idle for a few minutes before I switched it over to drive and left the garage.  
  
Again I wasn't in any real hurry to get home so I took it slow. I made it home in about thirty minutes and parked in the driveway. I got out of the truck, locked and closed the door, and headed inside.  
  
It was pushing three AM and I was thirsty. So I walked into the kitchen and saw Blaze sitting at the table, asleep. I guess she tried to wait up for me. I laughed a bit at her attempts and set my keys on the table then walked over to pick her up and carry her to bed.  
  
"no wait, morrow. Xero. they aren't." she was talking in her sleep.  
  
"well blaze, that's the first time you have made a peep when you were sleeping." I put one arm under her knees and the other behind her neck and picked her up. "c'mon now, its time for bed." I began walking her up the stairs when she shifted and put her arms around my neck.  
  
"oh, hi Xero. I see you made it back alright." She woke up this time.  
  
"I thought you said you sleep like a rock?"  
  
"I also said 'ussually' didn't I?"  
  
I chuckled a bit, "that you did. So, how long have you been up waiting?"  
  
"well, what time is it now?"  
  
"its about three o'clock now." I had stopped at the top of the stairs.  
  
She gave a deep yawn, "well, then I guess I have been waiting for about five hours then."  
  
"what?! You've been up for five hours waiting for me?"  
  
"what's wrong with that?"  
  
"well, I would've thought you to be long asleep by now. That's all."  
  
"well, I might fall asleep in your arms if you choose to stand here forever."  
  
I woke up and noticed that I was still carrying her. "would you like be to put you down?"  
  
She let out another small yawn then looked up at me into my eyes. "well, I'm awake now. And do you think I would like you to put me down?"  
  
I looked back into her eyes and returned the stare. Though it was relaxing to just stand there and look into her blue-green eyes, I was finding it difficult to continue the stare while she was staring at me. I had never stared at a woman when she was looking back before. "well, I ask questions for a reason. And your not tired huh? Well in that case." I started walking again and passed up my room to go check and see if angel was awake. "nope, still sleeping."  
  
"what? What are you checking on angel for?"  
  
"just to see if she was still awake."  
  
"why?"  
  
"well, we don't need her walking in do we?" I looked back at blaze after this statement to see her face in half shock, and what looked like half excitement.  
  
"now when you say 'walking in'." she managed to say as we stepped into my bedroom.  
  
"well, you sit here and think about that, okay?" I sat her on the edge of my bed.  
  
"what are you doing?" she leaned over in a way that her weight was on one thigh and she had her arm down on that side to reinforce her position.  
  
"me? I'm not doing anything." I stepped into the bathroom and turned the shower on.  
  
"your taking a shower??" I could hear the disappointment in her voice.  
  
"yes, I'm taking a shower." I closed the glass bathroom door and stripped.  
  
"what if I get any bad ideas?" she said in the sexiest voice she could muster. Almost gave me a hard-on hearing it.  
  
"well, one: I doubt that will happen. And two: if it does happen, then I would just have to role with it." I stuck my hand in the shower to test the temperature. Then I stepped in. I let the water run down over my face and body. I was terribly dirty from all the sweat that had been running through my hair and down my body, and that isn't the most pleasurable feeling when you have a skin tight jumpsuit on.  
  
"you doubt it huh. well, I may have to prove you wrong." Blaze stood from the bed and began walking around the room, looking at little things, just basically scoping things out.  
  
"well I wouldn't be surprised, but I didn't really figure you as that kind of girl?"  
  
"what do you mean 'that kind of girl'? I'm not a whore or anything. I have never slept with anybody before."  
  
"nobody, ever?" I didn't really believe it but I had little choice really. "but I bet you had plenty of offers huh?"  
  
she started laughing, "I have had more offers and advances on me than I can count." She stopped looking around and sat back onto the edge of the bed, then lay back onto the pillows.  
  
"that's what I thought. Well its not hard to believe that you have had a lot of them, I mean, well, ya-know."  
  
"I know what?" now she was trying.  
  
"nevermind. Anyway, the hard thing to believe is that you've never been laid. I just can't see it not happening."  
  
"whys that?" still trying.  
  
"well, ok, I'm gonna put this in laymens terms. Your drop dead gorgeous. Understand? you are a bombshell. I cant see you being in your twenties already and not been laid yet! I mean, most girls that are as hot as you have lost their virginity by the age of fifteen! And here you are, twenty- three right."  
  
"twenty-four."  
  
".yea, and still being a virgin. I don't mean to be mean or anything, and this is going to sound mean as hell, but I didn't think that you were still a virgin. I mean, I doubt angel is."  
  
"really?"  
  
"don't tell angel I said that, she'd kill me. Your not mad are you?" I turned off the shower, grabbed a towel and stepped out.  
  
"no I'm not mad. I'm a little surprised but still, you are the one that didn't want to leave me passed out in the nest the other day."  
  
"well, you didn't see what I saw, or hear what I heard. I wasn't gonna leave you there, you defiantly wouldn't have been walking straight the next day."  
  
"huh."  
  
I wrapped the towel around my waist and opened the bathroom door. "I haven't just blown all my chances have I?" I asked with a grin.  
  
She got out of the bed and stood in front of me. She started looking up and down me, apparently sizing me up. "no, I think you've still got a pretty fair chance." She grinned then lay back down on the bed.  
  
"good, I feel relieved." I walked over to my dresser and grabbed a pair of boxers and some sleep-pants from the top drawer. I looked over at blaze who was laying down on her back with her eyes closed. I thought it safe so I dropped the towel and got one leg into the shorts.  
  
"oh, that's nice." I looked up and blaze was sitting straight up on the bed.  
  
"what are you doing! I am changing here! You are supposed to be lying down with your eyes closed!"  
  
"well, I heard clothing it the floor and I couldn't resist." I stood up and just dropped the boxers.  
  
"alright, so what now?"  
  
"well, its only fair."  
  
"what's only fair?" I got this feeling in my stomach that was half dread and half excitement.  
  
She grabbed the bottom of her shirt and began pulling up.  
  
"HEY NOW!!" I jumped over and pulled her shirt back down. "none of that now."  
  
"what? Well I thought I fair that I saw you nude."  
  
"OH MY GOD!!! Now your thinking like a child!" I was laughing so hard I had completely forgotten that I was standing nude in front of this beautiful woman, who was (so it seemed) willing, on my bed.  
  
"ok, fine!" she crossed her arms and turned her head away.  
  
"hey, I wasn't trying to sound mean. I'm sorry if that's how it came out but I thought that was funny."  
  
"well, I'm sorry if it came out in a funny way. It wasn't meant to." She relaxed her arms and turned to look at me again. Somehow she was able to keep her eyes level with mine. I know for a fact that if the situation were reversed I would be getting slapped so bad right now.  
  
"can I get dressed now?"  
  
"oh, sure, go right ahead." She never took her eyes off of me though.  
  
So I bent back down and picked up my shorts, put them on then did the same with my sleep-pants. "now I feel so boring."  
  
She laughed as she fell back onto the bed and I walked around to get in.  
  
"so what happened with morrow?" she asked as I pulled the blankets up to my chest and laid my head back on the pillows.  
  
"I broke him out and I brought him back to the garage. He decided he wanted to walk home so off he went." I thought for a moment. "oh, dash decided to swing by and save my ass in the middle of my half-baked mission."  
  
"oh he did, did he?"  
  
we laid there in silence for about five more minutes.  
  
"I wonder why I never asked you if I could stay with you before?"  
  
"you probably thought I would take it the wrong way." I was drifting in and out of sleep. My eyes wanted to close really bad but I was trying to stay awake as long as possible.  
  
"no its not that, I mean, I never even really thought about it. I always knew you had a big house and room to spare, and we've always been good friends."  
  
"eh. your too nice. You wouldn't have wanted to impose or anything. And you probably thought about it but don't remember. Everybody forgets stuff."  
  
"yea, maybe your right." Blaze rolled over to face me. Not that she was looking at me, she had her eyes closed.  
  
"you better get to bed before you fall asleep."  
  
"alright, alright." she didn't move.  
  
"you gonna go?"  
  
"uh huh."  
  
I closed my eyes to blink and fell asleep.  
  
I felt sunlight on my face and sat up in bed, blinking my eyes to adjust to the bright light. I looked to my right and sure enough, there was blaze, sleeping on top of the blankets. She was curled up into a ball cause she was cold I guess.  
  
"I guess you forgot to go to your own bed huh?" I got up and closed the blinds on the window to lower the light in the room. Then I got up out of bed and walked over to the side that blaze was asleep on and pulled the blankets down from underneath her and slid her underneath the covers. I left blaze in my room and closed the door to my room on the way out. I walked downstairs and into the kitchen for some coffee and checked the clock on my way in. "11:00 o'clock, man. I have to be at the nest in an hour. I have to try to work out a schedule and not take any missions too late at night. If anybody I know gets arrested at night again they can wait damnit." I laughed as I took some coffee crème out of the fridge. "at least I don't have to make the coffee, I guess blaze set it all up for me last night when she was waiting."  
  
I ate my cinamin roll and drank my coffee then wrote a note to the girls about where I would be when they woke up and headed out the door with the note on the table. I got in the truck and made my way to the garage. I got to the garage in about forty-five minutes and parked the truck in the lot and headed for the nest. I stepped in the office door and waved to the receptionist as I walked past, through the back door, past the shop, onto the elevator.  
  
"what level please?"  
  
"the Nest." I took up my normal position of leaning against the back wall of the elevator as I felt being smashed as the elevator began to speed upwards.  
  
"the nest. Second to the right." The voice cooed as I walked out of the elevator.  
  
I opened the door to the nest and stepped inside. I looked around and wasn't surprised when I didn't see a whole lot of activity. The nest was just a lounge for ravens waiting for new missions and repairs anyway. I took a few steps in and began scanning for my query. From my right side I heard someone call:  
  
"Xero! Over here!"  
  
I looked over and there he was waving me down. I walked over to sit with him.  
  
"your late."  
  
I looked at the clock, "by three minutes. No big deal."  
  
"yea whatever. So, I noticed that you had a bit of a late mission last night."  
  
"yea, I had some business to take care of. So anyway, is there a name that I could call you by or something? I don't really like 'the mechanic' as the thing to call you by."  
  
"understandable. well I can understand, takes a while to say don't it?" he laughed a bit then held out his hand. "name is matthew, call me Matt or matthew, whichever you prefer."  
  
I took his hand for a shake, "name is Xero. Nice to meet you Matt." I laughed as well.  
  
But he raised an eyebrow, "cant give me a name? I was generous enough to share mine, a rarity these days."  
  
"Well Matt, if I had a name to give you I would, but being as I don't I'm afraid Xero is all you get to work with. It don't take long to say though, right?"  
  
"yea I guess your right. And since I'm not going to make you go into a history lesson as to why you can't give lets get down to business, shall we?"  
  
"lets." He stood and I followed. He walked out of the nest and back to the elevator.  
  
"what level please?"  
  
"AC garage."  
  
"so, what exactly are you going to do to my AC?"  
  
"well first I would like to know your AC's name?"  
  
"its called Revolution."  
  
"nice name, I am assuming you named it so because of your 'revolution' from MT to AC correct?"  
  
"that's right."  
  
"nice, very nice. So, that one is yours over there, right?" he pointed over towards Rev, which was standing 6 stalls over.  
  
"that's her. I planned on making a few modifications myself but I guess they got put on hold for now. I have been a little busy, with missions and stuff. Now you're here to pick her up."  
  
"I can leave her here if you like?"  
  
"no no no, it don't bother me. I can make my own mods after you're done with her."  
  
"very well then. Here, take this and drive your truck to that location." He turned around and handed me a pad of paper when we got to revolution. I looked over the paper and read over the directions to what I guessed was his garage.  
  
"and what of my AC? Don't you need that?"  
  
"I will take rev there myself." He seemed to answer my mental question instantaneously, "I will need to become accustomed to the AC which I will be working on for the next three days."  
  
"three days?! That's all it takes? I thought it would be like 2 weeks or so?"  
  
"no no, after many years of doing this I have learned what should be done first and what to do second. What the problem is with most of these modifiers, is that they get the AC, strip it down to the frame, then modify anything and everything they can, then they build it again from scratch."  
  
"and you know better?" I said, shifting my weight.  
  
"yes. Now, if you would be so kind. I believe we should get going." He turned around and climbed up the AC's core and opened the hatch.  
  
"hey! How did you get that open?! Its got a thumb print and password locking system on it!"  
  
he just turned to me and laughed as he jumped down into the cockpit sphere. A few moments later I heard the generator whine to life and begin pumping energy to every square inch of the mechanical beast. The head turned to look at me and I heard a male, almost mechanized voice, "Xero, tell my wife that we are having spaghetti for dinner."  
  
"spaghetti for dinner?" I was slightly confused, "alright, whatever." I turned again as he stepped out of the stall and walked for the door, I did the same.  
  
I walked out of the garage and continued my way until I reached the parking lot. I got into my truck and checked the directions for the first step in getting to his place. An hour and three stops for help later I finally reached a large house that had a large warehouse behind it. "well, I guess this is it. not quite what I was expecting but o-well." I parked the car and stepped out, locking the doors as I headed for the door.  
  
I stepped up and faced the front door. I raised my hand and gripped the dragon shaped knocker on the higher part of the door. I lifted and dropped the knocker three times and then waited. I rarely knocked more than three times anywhere.  
  
After about fifteen seconds the door opened and an attractive woman stepped into the doorway. She was just as tall as I, she had brown hair, brown eyes, and she was wearing a dark dress that stretched to the floor. "so, I assume that you are Xero?"  
  
"that I am. Am I expected?"  
  
"you are. Did matthew care to tell you what we will be having for dinner?"  
  
"huh? He said you were having spaghetti."  
  
"very well. Come in, come in. please make yourself at home until my dear husband gets home."  
  
I stepped through the door. "thank you."  
  
"would you like anything to eat or drink?"  
  
"well I am a bit thirsty if it isn't too much trouble." I stepped past her and she followed as she closed the door behind me.  
  
"none at all, follow me to the kitchen." She stepped away toward what I guessed was where the kitchen was.  
  
"alright then." And I followed her off.  
  
We walked through two more rooms before coming into the kitchen. "and what can I get you Xero? Water, apple juice, milk, lemonade?" she motioned with her hand for me to sit at one of the barstools next to the counter.  
  
"oh, um apple juice would be nice, thanks." I stepped over and took a seat.  
  
She opened the fridge and pulled out the pitcher of juice, then pulled out a cup from the cupboard and poured me a cup which she placed on the counter in front of me. "don't worry, Xero. He knows what he's doing. You'll get her back in one piece."  
  
"wha-? Oh, I'm not worried about that at all." I gave a fake laugh as I picked up the cup and took a drink. "thanks. So, does he upgrade a lot of ACs for ravens?"  
  
"no problem. I used to get really mad when matt would offer to upgrade ravens ACs for them. He used to do it for every raven that ever pulled off a skilled shot or anything." She laughed as I took another drink. "then he stopped giving out upgrades to everyone for some reason and only picked the ones that he owed something to or had truly proven themselves a very skilled pilot." She sat down across from me. "a lot of the ravens he would bring home when he first started were usually very rude and basically just wanted their upgrades and then we never saw them again. Sadly they would usually get hot headed and go off on impossible missions and get themselves killed. I guess that was why I didn't like it very much. But now that he carefully chooses the ones to upgrade he brings home very nice and polite ravens that make this a lot easier." She laughed again. "so, to answer your question: he used to upgrade a lot but has cut down a lot. He only does like one every month or two."  
  
"ah." I finished my drink and stood to put the cup somewhere. "in the sink?" I asked, pointing to the cup.  
  
"yes, if you would. Thank you."  
  
"no problem." I put the cup in the sink and walked back over to sit down again. But just as I sat down I felt the counter and the chair start to vibrate. "you feel that?" I asked, getting a little worried. I looked back at her. She was sitting on the chair with her arm resting on the table and her head resting in that arms palm.  
  
She had a perfectly normal look on her face. "he's home." Was all she said as she pointed to a door to my right. I guessed this was the back door as it was on the opposite side as the front door.  
  
I walked over to the door and pulled it open in time to see a large blue plasma stream heading towards me. The blue blossom slowly shrunk and disappeared completely as it came into full view. Sure enough it was Revolution. The blue flower was gone and instead now I could see two distinct plasma jets coming out of the bottom of the core as Rev closed in. it got about one-hundred fifty yards away and the jets turned off and rev flew through the air before stomping onto the ground hard with both feet, making two long craters as she slid towards the house.  
  
She finally stopped as she came to be about fifty yards away. I heard a voice come from within her. "follow me to the garage." It was Matt as expected. He turned and started walking rev towards the large warehouse behind his house.  
  
I ran from the house to the garage, excited to hear about what e was planning to do to her. I opened the front man-door and stepped inside. It was dark as night when I opened the door but as soon as I stepped in, hundreds of pole lights lit themselves.  
  
Immediatly after a large hanger door on the opposite side of the garage opened up and rev walked in and up to a stall that met with the catwalk that was suspended a few yards above my head. I looked up and matt climbed out of Revolution's cockpit and walked down the catwalk to an open platform at the end of the catwalk. He leaned over and pushed a few buttons on the side. The platform jolted then began moving downwards. Upon reaching the ground floor he walked over toward me with my flight suit on. Sharing a flight suit is like sharing a tooth brush.  
  
"my flight suit! I need to wear that! That's nasty man."  
  
He looked at his arm and surveyed himself. "oh, well, sorry. I'll give you a new one when I'm done with Revolution."  
  
"about that, what do you plan to do?" I walked the last few feet to meet him.  
  
"well, it is a well designed AC, I'll give you that. But."  
  
"there it is. 'but' what?"  
  
"it is a bit slow. Ok, really slow. The reaction time is a bit slow. The cockpit system could use some work as well. It needs a better generator, radiator, F.C.S., and there are just some modifications I could do. I don't want to sound like an ass or anything but I could build you a completely new AC that would be a hell-of-a-lot more efficient than Revolution."  
  
"well I don't mean to sound like an ass as well but I'm afraid that I like Revolution the way she is. But there are a few suggestions I could make for the upgrades, as well as a few questions."  
  
"ok, shoot."  
  
"well, first for the questions. How do you plan to make it faster? I have the best boosters you can buy on it already."  
  
"well, heh, I have my own boosters that I can put on her. As well as a new generator and some modifications to the overboost."  
  
"ok, sounds good. How do you plan to modify the cockpit system?"  
  
"well, I can give it a much more organic sounding voice. As well as modifying the CAR systems for a better response and reaction time." He looked back at Revolution for a sec. "oh! I can do some stuff to your weapons as well."  
  
"what can you do to weapons?"  
  
"sadly if I do what I have planned then it would make your weapons weigh a lot more. Which would mean you would have to get rid of your weapon clips. They are really dead weight anyway."  
  
"well, I guess but what about my standard weapon clip?"  
  
"the one on the back of your waist? That one should be able to stay. I have never had any real problems with that one. And besides, as it is mounted onto the legs from the factory I think that the weight of that clip is included in the main weight of the legs anyway so it doesn't add anything."  
  
"oh, well ok. Go ahead. But you never answered my question, what can you do to the weapons?"  
  
"oh, well, I was planning on customizing one of your shotguns and your machine gun. What I can do it get them to do a little more damage and speed up the fire rate."  
  
"eh, whatever. Go ahead and do what you can with the weapons. I'll take what you give me."  
  
"alright. Well, I guess I should get to work on them right away then huh?"  
  
"if you feel the need."  
  
"you can go ahead and head home. It should be done in about five days."  
  
"alright, c'ya later!" I waved as I walked toward the door. I saw matt turn back towards Revolution and look up at her as I closed the door behind me.  
  
*Authors note* I am just going to skip the few days that he would be upgrading the AC and go right to the day when he gets it back. I didn't have anything planned for those few days anyway. So don't be PMing me because it seems like you missed a chapter when the net one comes out. And I would like to thank everybody for reading and reviewing. 


	8. The Arena Calls

Chapter 8 the Arena calls  
  
I opened my eyes and as usual I was blinded by the sunlight shining through the window in my room. "why do you people always do this to me!" I got out of bed and closed the blinds over the window. I stepped into the bathroom to take care of business then headed downstairs for some food. I grabbed my robe and put it over my bare shoulders. Walking down the stairs I looked over and saw blaze sitting at the table drinking what I assumed was coffee and eating a pancake.  
  
"hey you, want some?" she lifted her fork-full of pancake to offer me some.  
  
"I just may. What flavor pancakes do we have here?"  
  
"blueberry and cinnamon." She took another bite.  
  
"eww. How did you come up with that combination?"  
  
"this is my favorite, its really not bad."  
  
"well I would guess it cant be that bad if you keep eating it." I stood for a second, "where's the batter?"  
  
she laughed, "I made a few extra, they're in the fridge." She poured some more syrup onto her pancakes. "these damn things are like sponges."  
  
I opened up the fridge and pulled out the pancakes which were in a large plastic baggie. I pulled two out and threw them on a plate then put them in the microwave. While I was waiting by the microwave I heard a yawn coming form the stairs and a knock at the door. I looked over to the stairs and angel was standing at the bottom of the stairs with a large duffel bag. "perfect timing." she said as she walked over to the door and swung it open. I looked further over again and morrow was standing in the doorway. "hey, could you grab this bag for me?" she said to him as he stepped inside.  
  
"what's going on?" blaze said with her mouth half-full of pancake and looking over my shoulder. She swallowed the food, "oh, hi morrow! What are you doing here?"  
  
"kinda what I was wondering." I stepped forward into the entrée-way.  
  
"angel didn't tell you guys?" he picked up the bag at angels feet without much effort at all. This guy was stronger than I had thought for a long time. "angels gonna come and stay with me."  
  
"oh?" I said as I raised an eyebrow to angel. "don't like it here?" I asked her.  
  
"no, I like it here. But I wouldn't want to get in between you and blaze." She threw blaze a nasty look then put her nose to the air and walked out the door, leaving morrow, blaze and I all standing together with dumb looks on our faces.  
  
"what?" we all said in unison.  
  
blaze walked after angel outside. "what do you mean 'in between Xero and I?' huh? What is that supposed to mean exactly?"  
  
"well, it seems you two have been getting along quite nicely recently and I don't want to see it!"  
  
morrow and I were standing side-by-side in the doorway silently thinking 'cat fight'.  
  
"getting along nicely! What the HELL!?!? Holy Christ angel! What the hell is wrong with you! What's wrong with making friends? Holy god! If I had known you would have been this jealous I would have stayed in the apartments at the garage!"  
  
morrow and I shot each other an excited glance. The only thing he managed to say was: "this is gonna be so hot."  
  
"jealous! Why would I be jealous of you two?!" they were yelling at each other now. And the neighbors were probably watching. "oh my god. I am NOT going to put up with this! Morrow! Lets go!"  
  
he looked at me with a dreaded look in his eyes. I patted him on the shoulder, "good luck buddy. I'll see you tomorrow."  
  
he made a fake crying sound like an injured dog and made his way out to the car.  
  
Angel was about to get in the truck when blaze yelled her name which made angel stop getting in the car and look over to her, then she stormed over to me. I just stood there waving my hands in front of me like I was trying to stop a car coming at me. "don't bring me into this! Please!"  
  
She grabbed my arm and pulled me out onto the lawn so that angel had a clear view of both of us. "hey angel! You want to be jealous! Here! have some of this!!" blaze reached up and grabbed the front of my shirt, right below the neck. She pulled me down and kissed me. Tongue and all. She held it for about five seconds as she put her other hand on the back of my head and kept it there. She finally released me and then turned to angel, "how was that!? Huh?" I just stood there dumbfounded.  
  
"FUCK YOU!!" was all she screamed as she threw herself into the car and slammed the door.  
  
Morrow was standing at the rear door of the car and had the duffel bag halfway in the backseat of the car. He stood up straight after blaze's little performance and just stood there with a shocked look on his face for a second. Then he kinda shook his head and gave me a huge thumbs-up with both hands before getting into the drivers seat of the car and driving away.  
  
Blaze waited until they were well out of site before grabbing my arm again and pulling me inside. I went somewhat willingly this time however. she pulled me through the door, and slammed it shut as we passed. She pulled my to the couch, swung me around then pushed me onto the couch on my back. Then she straddled my chest then she leaned in real close, "sorry about all that." she leaned in that last little bit and kissed me again. This one she held me for a while though. I wasn't quite sure as to how long it was but who cares? After a while she lifted her head and I saw that she had tears in her eyes.  
  
"hey its no big deal really." Her hair had fallen all around her head. She was about to drop tears too. "hey, calm yourself down, its alright." We stayed there silent, staring into each others eyes for about two minutes. I decided to break the silence, "hey, if its any consolation." I dropped to a whisper, as if she (Angel) would hear me, "I wasn't all that interested in angel anyway, I'm kinda glad she's gone."  
  
blaze kinda coughed a laugh which caused the last of her tears to fall from her face. I sat up with blaze now sitting on my lap.  
  
"want some pancakes?" she busted up laughing. She got up off me and walked back to the table, grabbed her plate of now cold pancakes and put them in the microwave after I got mine out.  
  
The rest of the day was rather uneventful. We watched a pay-per-view of some arena matches then watched a movie. The day was pretty much a couch potato day.  
  
It was about seven-thirty in the evening when I got a call from morrow.  
  
I picked up the phone. "Hello?"  
  
"Xero? That you?"  
  
"yea."  
  
"oh, ok, good, its me, morrow."  
  
"oh hey, what's up? I guess angel hasn't murdered you then. It looked like she was ready to kill when you guys drove away this morning."  
  
"yea, she's been in a pissed mood all day. She doesn't talk normal, she just yells. how's blaze?"  
  
I laughed, "she's good. She calmed down after you guys left. so, you got a reason to call me?"  
  
"lucky bastard. Anyway, yea I have a reason to call you. I need to meet you in the nest tomorrow at lunch. Say around noon lunch? I know some people eat late."  
  
"that's fine. Yea I'll see you there." I could hear angel scream in the background.  
  
"morrow! Who the hell are you talking to!?" she yelled. "get over here! Hurry!"  
  
"uh.nobody!" he yelled back. "god help me Xero, I gotta go. C'ya."  
  
"later." I could hear him yell back at angel before he clicked the phone down on the receiver:  
  
"what is it angel? I'm coming." I put my phone back on its receiver.  
  
"who was that?" blaze asked from atop the banister that crossed the living room of the house.  
  
"that was morrow. He wants to meet me in the nest tomorrow for lunch."  
  
"oh, alright. Think I could come along? I have nothing to do here. and with angel gone I have nobody to fight with."  
  
"what do you mean? No one to fight with? Is that all you and angel would do when I was gone?"  
  
"yea pretty much." She said with a sigh.  
  
"well, that explains a lot. yea, I don't see a problem with it."  
  
"ok, good." She yawned. "well, I'm gonna go lay down alright love?"  
  
"ok. I'll be up in a minute." . Wait. did she just call me 'love'? .and I went along with it? Oh god. whatever. I shut down the computer and grabbed a quick drink before heading upstairs myself. "why did she tell me she was gonna go lay down?" I got my answer as I reached the top of the stairs and could see lights flashing in my bedroom. "why is the T.V. on in my room?" I got the answer to that question when I walked into my room. I looked over and the T.V. was indeed on, and blaze was lying in my bed watching it.  
  
She looked over, "I thought you wouldn't be up for a while?"  
  
"well, I figured I better get to bed early. The last time I had to go to the nest the next day I stayed up to late and was draggin ass." I stood in the doorway for a second. "wait, what are you doing in my bed? Don't you have your own?"  
  
"oh? So you want me out huh?" she cocked her head sideways and sat half- way up in the bed.  
  
"well, not really." I scratched the back of my head even though I didn't have an itch and I wasn't so sure if it was a good idea for me to be in the dark room right now. I wasn't sure if my undeniably red face was lighting it up.  
  
"I didn't think so." She gave a sly smile and sat up in bed so that she was holding herself up with her elbows on the pillow behind her. The blankets slid a little more down her chest and I still didn't see any form of clothing. "are you gonna get in bed?"  
  
I just stood there, "uh."  
  
I still hadn't gotten fully dressed from this morning. So all I had on were my flannel pants and my bath robe, no shirt or really anything else. So I walked to my closet, hung the robe back up and walked back around the bed to get in. As I was walking back around blaze laid back down on one shoulder and pulled the blankets up to her neck. I climbed into the bed, half nervous, half excited. I got in and put my head on the pillow. I rolled over and blaze was there, three inches from my face. I gulped, "hi."  
  
"hi." she responded. She somehow moved closer without touching me at all. Her face was now about an inch from mine.  
  
"so. what's up?" I couldn't think of anything else to say, although the answer was painfully obvious.  
  
"well, I could guess." She said with another sly smirk.  
  
"alright then." I went to roll over again in the other direction. The nervousness now far outweighed whatever excitement I had harbored moments before. Before I could get halfway over however, I felt a slender hand on my shoulder.  
  
"where do you think your going?"  
  
"well, I don't know, that's the problem."  
  
"that's a problem?"  
  
I rolled back over and seemed even closer than I was before. "kinda."  
  
"are you nervous Xero? You pilot a giant mechanized monster and destroy things with cannons and the like. Then you get nervous about being in bed with a girl?"  
  
"uh-hum, woman." I corrected her, motioning my eyes to her chest.  
  
"oh, I'm sorry, forgive me." Her hand that was still on my shoulder she now used to push me over so I was on my back. again. "you like that position don't you?"  
  
"well, there isn't really much I can do about it. Or would do about it."  
  
"I see." she climbed over on me and kissed me again.  
  
I woke up the next morning and found myself lying behind blaze with my arms around her shoulders. "hello there." this was new. I slowly removed my arms from around blaze so I could get out of bed. It took a few minutes but I eventually got my arm out from underneath her. I got out of bed and felt a strange draft. I looked down and then smacked my palm to my forehead. "now I remember." I looked back to blaze who was still sleeping silently in bed. "too late." I walked into the bathroom and took a shower. I let the warm water run down my body and in my face. I got out and dried off. I put some jeans and a t-shirt on then looked back to blaze again. "time for you to get up." I walked back to the bed and sat down on the edge of the bed right in front of her. I put my hand on her shoulder. "hey! Its time to get up!" I shook her gently. Which obviously wasn't enough as she didn't even stir. I repeated the sentence and shook her a bit harder. Still nothing. "ok. sorry blaze." I put my other hand underneath her other shoulder and sat her up, then proceeded to shake her as hard as I could. Finally! Some results!  
  
"wha-? What's going on? Is it an earthquake?"  
  
"no, we need to work on waking you up in the morning."  
  
She gave a short laugh. "we do huh?" she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around my neck, pulled me in and kissed me. Then she fell back onto the bed, pulling me with her. "lets go back to bed. I'm still tired." She yawned and closed her eyes.  
  
"hey! HEY!! No more sleep! Get up and take a shower!" I sat up and brought her with me. "c'mon blaze! We need to meet morrow at the garage remember!?"  
  
she woke up this time. "alright, alright, I'm up. wheres the shower?"  
  
"right in there." I pulled her out of bed and pointed her to the bathroom. She was wearing the same thing I was when I woke up. which was well. nothing.  
  
"alright, hurry up Xero, we don't want to be late."  
  
"Uh-huh." She stepped into the door of the bathroom then stepped back and opened the door. Then she tried to walk through again.  
  
"and how long did you live on your own?"  
  
"what was that?"  
  
"oh, nothing." I stepped out of the room. And began walking downstairs. I got to the kitchen and checked the time. "ten forty-three. I stayed up too late again. But I guess this time it wasn't exactly my fault." I walked to the fridge and pulled out the last pancake, and put it in the microwave. I poured myself a cup of coffee from the automatic maker and added some cremer to the mixture. Then sat down and waited for the last thirty seconds for the pancake. I could hear the water running upstairs the whole time. The microwave rang and I got the pancake out and grabbed the syrup and a fork on my way back to the table.  
  
I sat quietly eating my breakfast when I heard footsteps on the stairs. "that you?" I stood and walked over to see blaze half-way down the stairs with her head drooping every now and then. "I guess you stayed up a little too late too huh? Well. not your fault either." I gave a short laugh and walked back to my pancake.  
  
She hobbled over to me and put her hand on the top of my head. "good morning." Her head drooped again.  
  
"hey, you look like you would like some coffee!"  
  
"yea, tell me about it." she reached over and grabbed my cup of coffee from my hand and proceeded to chug it, somehow.  
  
"what are you doing?" my jaw dropped as she lowered the empty cup to the table. "hey! That was mine! Wait a second? How the hell did you do that?! That was hot coffee!"  
  
"pure skill. And its not yours anymore, but if you really want it that bad I guess there is a way you could get it back." She gave me her signature sly smile and walked over to the coffee maker. "Moooorrre! you want some?"  
  
"eh. not really, I guess I had enough. Thanks for finishing it off for me." I ate the last of the pancake and picked up the plate to put it in the sink.  
  
"you ate the last pancake! Damn you. Oh well, can we stop by McDonalds on the way to the garage or something?"  
  
"If you don't want to try and get that pancake back, yeah sure if you don't want to eat at the garage or anything."  
  
"I'm not a big fan of cafeteria food."  
  
"its like a subway and stuff. Eh, whatever, you don't like cafeteria food but you can stomach McDonalds. I don't want to understand."  
  
"fair enough."  
  
A few more cups of coffee later and we were in the truck on our way to Cercall. We went through a drive-through for blaze in Trene and then we were on the freeway on our way to the garage.  
  
When we did get to the garage we were a few minutes late somehow. "I told you stopping was a bad idea!" we walked in the front doors and went straight for the elevator.  
  
"what floor please?"  
  
"the nest." We both said at the same time as the doors hissed closed and I took my usual spot at the rear of the lift. I leaned against the back wall as I felt myself being smashed into the floor, followed by a rising feeling. A few moments later I heard the 'ding' and the doors hissed open again.  
  
We stepped out of the elevator and took the whole seven or eight steps to the door of the nest. I opened it and held it open for blaze. I followed her in and we immediately saw morrow in a booth across the room. "why does everybody sit as far from the door as they can?" I said with a sigh and walked over to the table with blaze closely behind me.  
  
Blaze sat first and I followed her. "oh, isn't that sweet?" morrow said in a sharp mocking voice.  
  
"screw off morrow." Blaze said to him as she settled herself in the chair.  
  
"promise or a threat?"  
  
"oh, you would be lucky if it were either." she shook a fist at him with her eyes.  
  
I decided to cut in before they started a war. "ok! So, what's up morrow?"  
  
"alright, alright. Well, before we get started. um, Xero, you didn't have any real future plans in store for you and angel did you?"  
  
"not really." I thought for a second. "Why?" I asked, half not wanting to know the answer.  
  
"well, I've never had sex like that in my whole life." he said before he started laughing. He was laughing so hard he almost fell out of the booth.  
  
"what? I thought you said she was acting hella pissed?" I was kinda confused.  
  
"well, she was. She was pretty forceful too. But I guess she took all of her anger out on me! The only thing is. the way she took out her anger, was in no way a bad thing."  
  
"wow. whatever. But, how is she acting now?"  
  
"oh, she was in a perfectly good mood this morning!" he started laughing again.  
  
"so, are you two like 'together' now or something?" blaze asked.  
  
"well that's the thing that confuses me! When she got up this morning, she was in a perfectly good mood, yes. But she acted like nothing ever even happened!" he only chuckled at this one.  
  
"heh. whatever man. I stand by my statement, good luck with that one."  
  
"yea thanks, I'll need it."  
  
"so morrow, do you have any real reason for dragging us out of bed before we could get our full quota of sleep?"  
  
"oh, yea. Well actually Xero, you're the only one I need to talk to really." He continued upon seeing the look on blaze's face. "well, I have been challenged in the arena. These two guys mailed me yesterday and challenged me to a two-on-two battle."  
  
"you want me on your team?"  
  
"well, yea. I kinda do. Your one of the best pilots I have ever seen! I mean. you beat the A-1 raven on your first flight in an AC!"  
  
"eh. I'm gonna give that one to lady luck. Anyway, I would love to be on your team morrow but I have no AC. I dropped Revolution off with an AC mechanic the day before yesterday."  
  
"what for?"  
  
"He's gonna do some upgrades for me."  
  
"oh really? Nice. But that still leaves us at the initial problem. Huh. back to square one." He sat back and put his hand to his chin.  
  
"anything I could help with?" somebody who had just walked up to the booth asked.  
  
We all looked up and said in unison, "Dash!"  
  
"hey guys, what's going on?"  
  
"holy god! what good timing dash!" morrow said, scooting over in the booth to make room. "here buddy, have a seat!"  
  
"thanks morrow." He sat down. "so, what's the problem here?"  
  
"well, I have been challenged to a two-on-two match in the arena. And I am only one person. I have no one else for my team. I was gonna ask Xero here but he dropped his AC off with some guy for upgrades."  
  
"but I thought you guys didn't sign into the arena?" dash pointed out.  
  
"that's what I said when I called them to talk about it. And they said that challenges were exempt from the arena. You don't have to be in the arena to challenge or be challenged."  
  
"well then, I guess I could go in with you. If that's cool with you morrow, I mean you were the one they challenged." Dash offered.  
  
"that would be great! Oh my god, well this is the last thing I expected. That would be a good team. I have Remembrance with the huge firepower, and then you with your speed."  
  
"yea, sounds good to me."  
  
"sweet, sounds like a plan!"  
  
"when is the battle?"  
  
"that is another part of the problem."  
  
he kinda looked away a little, we all bore into him with our eyes. I spoke up, "don't tell us its today."  
  
"eh." he dropped his head to the table.  
  
"damnit morrow!" I hate it when people do this. "and you already accepted, huh?"  
  
"yep."  
  
"ah, don't worry about it Xero, I'm ready to go. My AC is all good and ready to get the crap beat out of it."  
  
"so morrow, when exactly is the match?"  
  
"in an hour."  
  
"great, well lets get to the arena then." Dash said standing up.  
  
"you ready to go just like that?" morrow asked as he made his way out of the booth as well.  
  
"well, it cant be helped." Dash said shrugging his shoulders.  
  
"well, I'll call up these two guys and tell them I accept." Morrow walked away towards the vid-phone center in the corner of the room.  
  
"hey dash." I said before dash got away.  
  
"yeah?"  
  
"I was wondering, what happened the other night when you gave me time to get away?"  
  
"oh that? Well, I ran into some more unexpected resistance." He paused in his sentence. Like he was thinking deeply, "but I got rid of the rest of them and then jammed out." He finished with a reassuring smile and walked away. I turned back and folded my hands on the table.  
  
"what's the problem Xero?" blaze asked, putting her hand on my shoulder.  
  
"well, the other night when I broke morrow out, and dash came and helped me out." I thought for a second. "when it came time to go, dash insisted to stay behind and hold them back while I got away because he could outrun them easily whereas I could not."  
  
"and?"  
  
"well, I was just wondering what happened. He didn't call or anything the next day or anything. This is the first time I have seen him since the incident."  
  
"so what is the problem other than that? It seems like something else is eating at you."  
  
"I don't know myself. I just have a bad feeling." I stood from the table.  
  
As soon as blaze stood up out of the booth the intercom system came online and an announcer's voice rang throughout the entire garage. "attention all persons within the garage, there is a special arena challenge event being held in one hour. All who wish to observe please make your way to the pillars. Would the following ravens please report to their respective ACs and then proceed to the pillars on the edge of the city: Morrow, Dash, Soulrage, and Tetra. Thank you."  
  
Morrow walked back over to us. "well, that's my queue, wish me luck!" he walked off briskly, dash was waiting by the door. They both took off for the garages. "well, I guess we better head to the arenas?" blaze said walking toward the door.  
  
"I guess so." I followed.  
  
*note* *ok, I'm not trying to steal any material here but the arena In my story operates in somewhat the same manner as the arena from "Kur's Dissension". Except that instead of one big pillar, there are three. Each with a couple different arenas in it. The first is the natural pillar. This one holds arenas such as the dark forest, the tropical forest, and an arena that is an array of platforms suspended above water. The second is the desert pillar. This one holds arenas such as the great wasteland, the dunes, and the canyon arena. And then the final pillar is the main pillar. This pillar is called the metal pillar. This pillar holds arena like the standard arena which is the most popular. It also holds the structure and parking lot arenas.* *get it? Alright, then you wont try to kill me for thinking that I stole the arena thing from Kur.*  
  
we made it to the pillars with about forty minutes. The traffic was terrible. "I guess they rang that notice throughout the whole damn city!" I said as I smashed the horn and gave the guy who just cut me off the finger. Blaze I guess was just trying to survive the drive. She sat next to the window quietly with her hands folded in her lap.  
  
When we finally made it to the arena, I parked the car in the raven lot. and we walked up to the front door. Blaze and I showed our raven licenses to the front desk and they showed us in to the special V.I.P. area. Being a raven has its advantages other than getting to blow the crap out of stuff with giant mechanized monsters.  
  
The challenge was being held in the standard arena. Which came to no surprise to really anyone. It was the most widely used arena. We took our seats and waited for the match to begin. After about ten minutes the lights in the stands dimmed and the enormous water arena was lit up. There were about twenty platforms that were arranged in a semi hexagon and then spiraled out from that in four separate 'arms'. Kinda like the milky way with four arms instead of two. Aside from that there were a few scattered platforms that were just placed anywhere. At the ends of each of the four spirals was a large AC sized door. The announcer came over the line, "welcome to the lake arena! Todays even is a special arena challenge match! A real treat today especially as todays challenge if from two well ranked ravens who are well versed in team combat. They are always ready to challenge the newcomers to the fold as well. And that is exactly what they are doing today folks! The challegees are two brand new ravens that have barely had a chance to open their wings and they are already in the arena!"  
  
"Now lets meet todays challengers!" the door on the east side of the arena opened and a mid weight black AC walked out. It held a rifle in each hand and had a solid ammo, mid-weight core. On its back were two thirty percent ammo additions. "and we have the leader of the red team, lets hear it for Tetra!!" the crowd went into an uproar as he walked out of the doorway and waved to the crowd with rifle in hand. "and then lets see the red leaders partner!" the door on the west side of the arena opened and inside stood a four legged white AC that had spread laser arm weapons and a dual missile launcher in its back. "now lets give a warm welcome to the red team, Soulrage!" the crowd again was in an uproar of cheer and clapping. He walked in through the door and waved to the crowd by swinging one of his arms up in a spiral. The doors closed behind those that had entered and they were effectively locked in.  
  
"now lets hear it for those that have been challenged!" luckily blaze and I were sitting in the south-east corner so we could see the entrances of everyone. The door on the south side of the facility opened and inside stood a blue, heavy-weight AC that was holding a KARASAWA in the right hand and had a MOONLIGHT blade on the left. It also sported a huge cannon on the back. "now lets hear it for the newcomer, Morrow!" the crowd did not explode in an uproar as it had done before, but there was a fair amount of cheers. Morrow stomped in, leaving cracks in the platforms where he stood. "that would be the blue leader there people, now, lets get the blue team in here!" the western door opened and dash's AC was floating in the doorway. "this is Dash who is the blue team, lets hear it!" his orange AC floated in amongst the cheers that greeted him. His AC didn't make a move, other than what was necessary. It was like a stone. His blade arms heated and resting at his sides. His cannons folded but ready to go on his back. The doors closed behind the two of them, locking them in until victory or defeat release them.  
  
"all pilots, signal when ready to begin the match." the comm. went silent.  
  
After a moment, tetra's arm raised, signaling his readiness. A few seconds after that, Soulrage's arm lifted.  
  
A few moments later Dash's blade arm lifted and ignited. Making the crowd collectively go 'oooo'. The tension was at the breaking point. A moment later, Morrows heavy arm holding the KARASAWA lifted into the air.  
  
Then it began, "pilots! BATTLE!!"  
  
Tetra started off by going straight after morrow. He flew into the air and began firing both of his rifles at the same time. One after another, and then two at once. The bullets merely bouncing off of morrows armour. But eventually they began to find soft spots that were hit repeatedly and started sinking in. but morrow didn't move, the only movement he did make happened after about ten seconds of the pounding had passed. He looked up and stepped back with the left leg. Then he lifted his right arm and started firing KARASAWA shots at tetra. Tetra was doing an excellent job of evading but like all ACs, had to land sooner or later. And when he did, he would have to regain his balance, that is when he would be taken.  
  
Dash wasted no time in waiting for his prey to come to him and immediately turned and hit the overboost. The orange AC called streak lived up to its name by leaving only an orange streak to distinguish it from the background. It shot towards Soulrage at speeds that would make sonic jets jealous. Soulrage saw him coming though and jumped straight up into the air as dash passed beneath him and left two large blackened gorge marks in the ground where Soulrage just was. Had he not jumped, soulrage would have been in four pieces.  
  
On the other side, Tetra was running dangerously low on energy and morrow was still keeping him under constant KARASAWA fire. He decided to risk it and cut his boosters completely. Just as he did, a KARASAWA shot went right through the air that his core had occupied only milliseconds before. He dropped like a rock onto the platform below him. Morrow followed his movements perfectly, KARASAWA shots firing just above Tetra as he dropped. Right when he landed he used his momentum to do a cammando roll. As he rolled away a huge blue plasma stream plowed into the platform, decimating it. Morrow was standing at the entrée platform with his linear cannon lowered over his shoulder.  
  
Dash turned around to be met with a cloud of energy shots. He endoured the light damage and listened as the plasma melted away the armour of his AC. He looked up and ignited both of his blade arms. The crowd was holding their breath collectively. Dash boosted up into the air and crossed the blades over his chest. Soulrage cut the boosters and opened the missile launchers on his back. As he dropped, Dash was getting closer and closer, just as they were level Soulrage fired a volley of eight missiles. Dash reacted by hitting the overboost and taking three hits to the core and he cut down three others, the rest were destroyed by the plasma from Dash's overboost.  
  
Tetra came out of his roll onto the next platform. He stood in time to boost up and back as that platform, too, exploded. He landed on the platform behind him and jumped again as a massive pillar of furious blue energy destroyed that platform as well. But this time Tetra did not jump back, he jumped forward and hit his boosters. He was flying straight at morrow and he activated his EOs. The dual rifle orbits came to life and began landing shots onto morrows AC, the same time he was firing his arm rifles for a total of four shots at a time. Morrow stood motionless, his linear cannon charging for another shot, a shot to end this battle. Just as the energy gauge reached a full charge, Tetra took careful aim with his arm rifles and began firing into the barrel of Morrow's cannon.  
  
Dash flew away at unheard-of speeds. Soulrage took the advantage and landed on the nearest platform. His preferred leg part, combined with his weapon arms meant that his AC had terrible energy consumption problems yet he refused to change. He began locking onto dash with his missiles again. Dash had stopped the overboost and landed over another platform. Soulrage launched another set of eight missiles in dash's direction. Dash ignored the missiles by igniting his blades again and pressing the overboost yet again.  
  
The linear cannon on morrows AC began shaking violently. Tetra, satisfied, landed about one-hundred meters in front of morrow and stood there. He lowered his rifles and deactivated his EOs. Morrow stood up and dropped the whole left cannon assembly off of his AC. He lifted his arms and dropped the KARASAWA. He looked back at Tetra and activated his overboost to Tetra's horror. Morrow was flying right at him. Somehow morrow was traveling almost as fast as dash. He almost hit Tetra's AC but veered to the right just in time, he swung his left arm up and grabbed tetra's head as he flew by, yanking tetra from a standing position to eight-hundred KPH in a millisecond.  
  
Dash flew right through the cloud of missiles and was hit by three of them, the rest were swallowed by the plasma from his back. Soulrage raised his arms and began firing his spread lasers at the closing fury. Dash ignored the sizzling and melting sound and flew right past Soulrage. Soulrage just stood there for a second as dash cut his overboost and drifted to a stop behind him. It looked as if dash had missed completely. until Soulrage tried to move. Soulrage turned to face dash again and his right arm, the two right legs, the front half of the core, and the right back missile launcher fell off, cleanly cut.  
  
Tetra's right arm was ripped off by the force of the acceleration, he also dropped his left hand rifle. Morrow flew through the air, pulling Tetra behind him by the head. As he flew morrow increased his grip on tetra's head, eventually crushing it. Morrow approached the opposite arena wall and swung tetra around and smashed him into the wall, back first, destroying his back weapons. Morrow remained hovering in the air with his hand holding up tetra's battered AC by the head. Morrow pulled him back and smashed him into the wall again, then began slugging the AC in the core with his free hand. He landed about ten blows before he swung tetra around again and threw him back, onto the platform waiting five-hundred meters behind and below. Tetra's AC landed hard on its back, the core was unrecognizable and the head was crushed. The right arm was missing, various wires and conduit sticking out of the joint hole. Its back weapons were smashed from the confrontation with the wall and the left arm weapon was missing.  
  
The announcer came back over the line, "WOW! I think we have ourselves the winners!! Give it up folks!! Wow! What a battle! I have never seen anything like that!!"  
  
Morrow flew back and landed next to his fallen opponent. Dash floated four platforms over and the cut down AC of Soulrage lie in pieces three platforms from that. 


	9. New Revolution

Chapter 9  
  
We waited twenty minutes after morrow and dash had left the arena to get out. The crowd just wouldn't let us go. The safety crews and medics had long since been bustling around and over the two ruined ACs of Soulrage and tetra.  
  
We finally made it out of the arena and out to the car. I unlocked the doors and got in, blaze followed.  
  
"where do we go now?" she asked. "do we go home or back to the garage?"  
  
"I'm not sure really." I replied. But no sooner had I replied did my phone ring.  
  
"hello?"  
  
"Xero? This is morrow."  
  
"oh hey! That was a great battle!"  
  
"yeah, thanks, if you guys head back to the nest we can talk about it. I'm on a transport headed back to the garage."  
  
"oh, alright. We'll do that then. C'ya there." I closed the phone.  
  
"what are we doing now?" blaze asked.  
  
"we are gonna go the nest and have dinner with morrow and dash. We're gonna discuss the battle as well."  
  
"great! I'm starving." She sat back against the seat and pulled her seatbelt around her chest.  
  
An hour later we were at the garage. The traffic again was horrid. We parked the car and ran inside, praying to god that they hadn't left yet. We ran through the office, down the hall, into the elevator.  
  
"what flo-"  
  
"the nest!" we both said at the same time, cutting the computer off.  
  
We didn't relax until the doors had opened and we found ourselves inside the nest, being flagged down by dash and morrow. We walked over to sit down. They were seated at the same booth we sat at before the match.  
  
"Xero! What now!!!" morrow jumped up and ran over.  
  
"that was freakin' awesome morrow!! You have got to tell me about that!" I patted him on the back and we sat back down.  
  
Dash was a bit more composed. "so Xero, not to bad for our first match huh?"  
  
"not bad at all dash. Amazing really. You were awesome, I couldn't even see your AC when you overboosted! How can you control something that fast?"  
  
"well, that is something called skill." He joked, "but, it was hard to keep up with it most of the time. I'm still working on perfecting it."  
  
"I guess you are." Blaze cut in, "if you had perfected it, then Soulrage would have been out of the match after that first charge."  
  
"yeah, probably." He laughed.  
  
"but ok morrow, you have to tell me how you got your AC to go that fast. And I don't know how you kept your cool that whole time, the way you just stood there and fired away." I put both my arms on the table and faced morrow.  
  
Dash started laughing his ass off.  
  
"oh that! Well, that's the good part." He replied, obviously excited about the subject. "when the battle first started, I was actually scared shitless! I couldn't move, I was so scared."  
  
Dash cut in, "I could hear his breath shuddering over the comm.!!" he was still laughing.  
  
"shutup dash! Damnit, anyway, when I finally was able to move I couldn't move very much. I just raised my KARASAWA and started firing."  
  
My jaw dropped, "you were scared! That's what happened!"  
  
"well, hang on, it gets better!" dash interrupted again.  
  
"yeah, really. So after I got him to land and stuff, I brought out my linear cannon. I stil couldn't move so I was just like 'get away from me!' so I brought out the cannon and fired at him when he landed but he rolled and I hit the platform, then I fired again, and again. But then he started coming at me. He was making a bee-line for me so I thought maybe I could hit him finally. But right before my cannon discharged, he started firing into the barrel!"  
  
dash was about rolling on the floor.  
  
"the cannon started overloading and was about to like explode or something. And that bastard tetra just stood there in front of me! So what I did wa- "  
  
"what he did was started cussing like a damn sailor and after about twenty cusses he just went with a solid scream." Dash cut in yet again before going back to laughing.  
  
"damnit dash! God, anyway, needless to say I was hella pissed. And I forgot about being freaked out at all and I told the computer to disconnect the cannon from the energy condenser on the right side of my back and ejected the cannon completely. I did not want to be attached to the thing if it blew. So what I did was had the computer to reroute the energy made by the energy condenser for the cannon into my main booster systems and strength amplifiers for the AC. And the best part is that after I did this my energy gauge turned yellow and went through the freakin roof! I was so pissed at this guy for wrecking my cannon! It wasn't that he really destroyed it, but how much it was going to cost me to fix it or, god forbid, get a new one! So I hit the overbooster and my speedometer shot up to 934 MPH!! my eyes blurred majorly and I flew right at tetra. I was lucky though because my arm was through out by the force of my acceleration and I caught his head in my hand. So I grabbed his head and squeezed it as hard as I could. I was sooo mad! I wanted to kill the bastard! I mean, first he challenges me, then he wrecks my linear cannon! So after I grabbed his head I thought I ripped it off but my speedometer went down a little, so I look behind me and he is being dragged along! I was thinking, I'm gonna go with this! And then I look at my energy gauge and its not going down at all!"  
  
"at all?! For all that speed and strength, your gauge didn't move!?" blaze blurted out.  
  
"nope, didn't drop a millimeter. And I was going so fast that before I knew it I was at the opposite wall. So I turn off the overboost and swing him around, bash him into the wall a few times, punch him in the core a bit, then I threw him behind me." He paused for a moment. "but now that I think about it, I hope I didn't kill the guy. He was a good pilot, he just challenged the wrong guy." He said proudly.  
  
"well, morrow, I wouldn't be surprised if you did kill him." I said. "I cant see a way anybody could have survived that. I mean, he might have died right when you ripped him from zero to nine-hundred forty-three in zero seconds. And another thing is that I am surprised you didn't go blind from that kind of speed and acceleration."  
  
"well, I am not to sure about any of that myself either. I have no clue how I could have survived that myself." He replied.  
  
"but morrow," blaze spoke up. "you do know that the arena covers all the costs to repair whatever damage you receive and they replace all damaged or destroyed weapons that you may have had during an arena battle, right?"  
  
"what!?" he yelled. "so I got all mad about nothing?!"  
  
"apparently so." Dash said, finally regaining himself. "so, anybody up for some diner?"  
  
morrow slumped in his chair. "yeah, he'll have some." Blaze said for him.  
  
We all laughed.  
  
After dinner we all went our separate ways. Blaze and I wished morrow good luck when he left to go home to angel. "yeah, I'd rather face a hundred tetras in the arena than face angel at home! But ya-know maybe when she finds out I won." he said, walking to his car.  
  
Dash went back to the garage area to check on his AC for some reason.  
  
Blaze and I got into the truck to go home.  
  
The next few days were uneventful. We went out to diner on the fifth night before I would have to pick up my AC the next morning. And sure enough when we got home there was a message on the answering machine:  
  
"Xero? This is Matt. I'm just calling to let you know that your AC is done and ready to be picked up. I must say I am rather pleased with this one. And I also have a few little somethings for you and your friends. I'm afraid I won't have time to upgrade all of your ACs. So just stop by tomorrow sometime between ten in the morning and ten at night and I'll hand her back over to you. Later."  
  
"sweet! Fixed AC tomorrow. Gonna be sweet!"  
  
blaze patted me on the shoulder. "I'm going to bed. Are you coming?"  
  
"you better believe it." I followed her up the stairs into my room.  
  
I woke up the next day at about eleven in the morning. I got up briskly and got ready fast. I was to excited to be hungry so I got dressed, grabbed my glock, my keys and I was out the door.  
  
It took me about two and a half hours to get to Matt's house. But once I got there I parked and got out of the truck. I walked up to the door and knocked three times like always. I stood in front of the door rocking back and forth between my toes and my heels.  
  
About fifteen seconds later, the door opened and I saw Matt standing there with his wife standing behind him with her arms around his shoulders. "Xero! I thought it was you." He said, opening the door the rest of the way. "oh, come in, come in!"  
  
"thanks matt." I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. His wife had gotten off him and gone to the kitchen.  
  
"so, xero, you must be excited as all hell to see her!"  
  
"well ye-"  
  
"here you go Xero. It was a long drive no doubt." His wife had come back with a cup of apple juice in hand.  
  
"oh, thank you. Yes it was. But anyway," I took a drink. "yeah, I'm just dying to try her out."  
  
"I bet you are. Alright, lets go out to the garage and check her out. I'll give you the rundown on what I did." He turned on his heel and walked to the kitchen.  
  
I followed him through the kitchen and out the back door. I followed him over the backyard and into the garage. We walked up to the door and he stepped aside and bowed to me as I walked up to the door, motioning his hands to the door. I smiled and opened the door. As before when I opened the door it was pitch black in the garage but when I took the first step all the lights in the garage ignited themselves and I was blinded. I took a few steps in and as soon as my eyes adjusted I saw her. Standing right there in the middle of the garage was revolution.  
  
"Xero, I give you, 'New Revolution'. What do you think?"  
  
"it looks the same?"  
  
"well, duh, what did you think I was gonna build you a new AC?" he laughed. "alright, now let me tell you what I did." We walked up to the elevator that I had seen him use five days before. "ok, now the first thing is I gave you about 12 inches of extra armour. And its as think as 15 in some places. Also, I have given you a new generator that I built myself. I modified the boosters quite a bit."  
  
"so they have even higher output now?"  
  
"yes, they use half the energy, but I have tripled the output. I did the same to your overboost systems. But be careful, the higher output means a lot of plasma running through those things okay? So that means that they can overheat really fast. But, I countered that by adding a new radiator and coolant system for the boosters and overboost."  
  
"nice."  
  
"I also tweaked the cockpit system. Let me show you something." He stepped off the walkway that the elevator had risen to onto the front core of Revolution. He opened the hatch and jumped inside. I followed. "okay, now what I am about to show you is the mod that I am most proud of." He pointed to a small button pad that was a part of the leg braces.  
  
"what is it?"  
  
"that my friend, is a control for the AI. I have never put one in an AC before but I put it in here in the spare time that I had last night and it kicks ass. It takes your battle data and transmits it to another AC of yours in the garage. The only thing is, you'll have to buy another AC and set it up for combat and then give it weapons that are similar to the ones you have equipped.  
  
"what do you mean? Similar weapons?"  
  
"well, lets say you have a rifle on your main AC and you use it at medium to long range. Well it connects then but lets say that your AC has a shotgun on the same weapon hardpoint as the rifle on your main AC. so, whenever your AI fires its shotgun, it will do so from medium or long range like you do in your main AC. now we all know that firing a shotgun at long range will do a whole lot of nothing."  
  
"ah, I understand."  
  
"Ain't that bitchen?! next, I put in a new CAR system for some increased reaction speed from your computer." We jumped out of the cockpit and stepped back out onto the catwalk. "oh, there is something else I have to show you! Come on, we have to move the scaffold around your AC. This next mod is also a first for me in an AC but I have put it through so much testing it isn't even funny." I followed him back onto the elevator and he lowered us back to the ground. After safely on the ground he walked over to a console that was back near the door and began pushing buttons. "hey, you might want to step back towards me." I did as was told and the scaffold around my AC began folding back along the hangar walls. He stood and watched the scaffold move. As soon as it was done he went back to typing into the console. "ok, tell me if you see any difference in appearance on your AC." He clicked a few last buttons, "alright. See anything?"  
  
I looked up and down the AC, being careful to check for any subtle changes. "no, I don't see a difference." I looked up and down Revolution once more. "why?"  
  
"This is why." He said as he began yet again pushing buttons onto the console. "see that plasma rifle over there?" he waved his head to a ceiling mounted cannon.  
  
"yeah, why?" I had a strange feeling.  
  
"now watch Revolution." He pushed a few more buttons and the cannon fired right at Revolution.  
  
I spun around at him like a top, but as soon as I opened my mouth to scream he waved his head back to Revolution.  
  
I looked back in time to see the pulsating beam of energy plow into Revolution with a deafening shockwave. I was so mad, but as I watched I noticed that Revolution was taking no damage and that the beam was merely hitting a blue energy sphere that surrounded Revolution. I turned back to matt. "what the hell?"  
  
He looked at me and just beamed a huge smile. "the first AC mounted shield system. What do you think?"  
  
"I don't know what to think. I'm blown away!" I was almost speechless. "I thought ACs weren't big enough to house the generators and emiters for those things?"  
  
"hey, you have your gun on you right?"  
  
"yeah, why?"  
  
"shoot at her."  
  
"what?"  
  
"just do it."  
  
"okay." I unclipped my gun and fired a few rounds at my own AC. only to duck for cover when I heard the bullets ricochet and another shield pulsate around Revolution, Except this shield was red instead of blue.  
  
"okay, I'll explain it to you. The first shield is specially designed to absorb energy. It has a battery bank in the legs of our AC that store power stolen from enemy attacks. When you enemy fires an energy weapon at you. It will hit that shield, provided you have it on, and the shield will basically absorb the shot and store the energy in a spare battery bank. Once the bank is full, the energy will be automatically reverted over to your booster systems. So you don't waste any energy. Now, the battery bank is used to start up the shields and the red shield fully runs off of the battery bank. The red shield reflects incoming solid rounds. Obviously it can't absorb the shots that it will be reflecting so it uses the banks. If the banks run out then you lose on the red shield, sorry. Now, to keep you from running out of energy to even start the shields in the bank, I have built in a safety that shuts down the battery usage except to start up the blue shield."  
  
"but how did you-?" I started to ask.  
  
But he cut me off. "wait, I'm not done. Two more things about the shields: Even though they have been through extensive testing and such, they are still not perfect. For example, if you get shot at with a linear cannon shot. Your blue shield will doubtfully be able to absorb it all. It will probably deflect whatever it can't absorb but you will probably end up shorting out your batteries in the process. Same goes for the red shield, if you get a grenade or two fired at you, I doubt that it will be able to hold more than two off. And, they have a tendency to heat up the battery banks. So watch your internal heat temperature." He pushed a few more buttons on the console and the catwalk came back across the chest of Revolution. "now, if you get a laser blade swung at you, don't count on the blue shield to hold it off. It will probably hold off the lesser blades, but should you get a moonlight too close, don't even try the shield. The emmiters are built into your armour all around your AC if that is what you were going to ask."  
  
I opened my mouth then closed it. Then I opened it again, "can I try her out now?"  
  
He laughed. "go right ahead. Go jump on the lift."  
  
I ran over to the lift and just before I stepped onto it he yelled back at me.  
  
"you might want this." He balled something up and tossed it to me.  
  
I caught it and unrolled it. A new flight suit. "thanks matt."  
  
"no problem. Go get in there, let me know what you think."  
  
I jumped up on the lift and he started it upwards. Once it got to the top I ran to the cockpit of New Revolution. I opened the hatch and dropped in. I landed on the small platform and put on the flight suit. "computer, initiate startup procedure."  
  
The main cockpit HUD turned on and again thousands of tiny red lasers traced over my body from my feet to my head, the suit self-tightening as the lasers got higher. "Welcome back Xero." The computers voice was now very much like a normal female's. In fact, had I only heard the voice and not seen the mechanical exoskeleton, I would have thought it was a real woman. After the computer said this, the platform that I was standing on broke apart and buckled up my legs as the braces.  
  
"I gotta remember to ask dash how these things work for those weird hover legs." I said as I took the gloves from the small dish that extends outward from the panels in front of me. After I put them on the cockpit screens all around me flashed a bright white then after I opened my eyes, was looking at a mirror image of the outside world. I moved my head and the AC's head moved as well. I moved my arm up quickly to test the reaction speed. It was impeccable. Before the upgrade you could notice a very minute lag in the response. But now, there was no doubt that the lag was gone completely. "computer. Initiate normal mode." I heard Revolution's new generator roar to life and I saw my energy gauge fill almost instantly. "damn, nice generator. Revolution, initialize startup systems check."  
  
"initializing. new generator detected, output 45000, redzone 10000, maximum capacity 70000. generator operating at full power. New radiator detected, cooling 25000, forced cooling 40000. radiator operating at full power. Shield systems. check. Overboost. check. Boosters. check. Back weapons. none. Arm weapons. none. Warning! Suggest equipment of weapons before battle mode is initiated!"  
  
"hey, matt! What's up? Where's my weapons?"  
  
"oh, shit, forgot to tell you about those! Hey, walk her out here." I watched as he ran over to another console and started pushing more buttons. "here they are." Another wall opened up on the side of the garage and my weapons were held within.  
  
I walked Revolution over and looked inside. There was a shotgun, a machine gun, my missile launcher, and my laser cannon. "what are the others?"  
  
"okay, I modified your shotgun, and your machine gun. Your laser cannon is pretty much as tricked out as possible stock, and your missile launcher I can't really do anything else with. It's a pretty good unit by itself. Go on, put them on."  
  
"alright, alright." I reached forward and picked up the missile launcher and moved it over by my right shoulder. "Revolution, equip right back weapon, 8 lock, missile launcher."  
  
"equipping. complete."  
  
I picked up the laser cannon and raised it to the left shoulder. "Revolution, equip left back weapon, laser cannon."  
  
"equipping. complete."  
  
I reached forward now and picked up the shotgun with my right hand. "this thing feels lighter. What did you do to it."  
  
"well, it just feels lighter because of the improvements to your CAR systems. It's actually about three times heavier."  
  
"really. Well it doesn't feel like it. Anyway, so, I'm down to one shotgun and my machinegun."  
  
"yeah, sorry, if I had done both shotguns then it would have been way too heavy."  
  
"I can understand that. So, do I get to test this stuff out or do I only get to hold it?"  
  
"look to your left."  
  
I did as was instructed and gazed at on open hangar. "alright then." I walked out of the hangar.  
  
"go for it. I'll send out some MTs in a few minutes."  
  
"sweet." I hit the boosters and my eyes blurred as I accelerated forward. I checked the speed gauge and it read five hundred and seventy-six miles per hour. "WHHOOO!!!!" I screamed as I flew forward. I tried to turn and spun around on my left foot as I dipped it into the ground. The turning was unbelievable. I had been boosting and turning for about three minutes when I checked my energy gauge and saw that it was still three-quarters full. I turned off the boosters and looked back to my gauge. But by the time I looked at it I saw it top off. "damn! That's crazy!" I was now facing back towards the hangar. I turned back out into the plains. "oh god, here we go!" but before I could hit the overboost switch, matt came over the comm.  
  
"hey Xero! Don't use your overboost yet. It is just too powerful for you to handle."  
  
"than why did you make it that powerful?!"  
  
"well, the sign of a good raven is their ability to adapt to changing conditions around them. If you are as good as I believe you are, then in a while, you will be able to use that overboost without even thinking about it. But until then, try to avoid using it. And when you do start using it, turn on your red shield before you initiate the overboost."  
  
"why?"  
  
"just trust me on this one. You'll know what I mean when you try it for the first time."  
  
"alright, alright."  
  
"ok, well, with that out of the way. I'm gonna send out some MTs for you to try your hand against."  
  
"okay, send them on out."  
  
It took a few minutes but after a while the plains just beyond his garage began to crack and open. The ground swelled and an enormous hatch swung upward.  
  
"ok, Xero, try it against these. They shouldn't even make you break a sweat."  
  
The hatch began to shake as rows of four MTs began marching out of the hatch. Just row after row, they kept coming.  
  
"how many are you gonna send out?"  
  
"just about twenty more!"  
  
"what!"  
  
about thirty seconds later the MTs were out of the hatch and had all filed up in a column.  
  
"alright Xero, in a few seconds I am going to set these things to auto attack. The A.I. will collectively fire at the first thing that fires at them."  
  
"like in the raven test."  
  
"yes, just as in your raven test. Except that this time, there are about five times the amount and you have no limit and no teammates."  
  
"alright. Bring it on!"  
  
"there set!"  
  
I boosted towards the MTs. They just stood there, watching me come at them. I kept boosting until I was standing right in front of the closest MT. I put my machinegun on the clip on the back of my legs and grabbed the MT by the head with my right hand. Upon gripping the MT, the others all raised their weapons, but none fired. I picked up the MT by the head, sparks were rushing out of the joint that desperately held the head onto the chest. The MTs didn't relinquish their weapons, and neither did they fire. I eventually had the MT above my own head and pulled it back behind me.  
  
"the AC is so much stronger!" I said, getting excited.  
  
"no shit."  
  
I whipped the MT around in front of me like a club, taking out the five or six MTs that were directly in front of me. Then I swung it up above my head and threw it straight into the crowd as I activated my red shield. The MTs fired as the MT left my hands but most of their shots were directed away and some back at them by the shield. I pulled the machine gun off the clip and brought my shotgun up.  
  
I started unleashing machine gun fire into the group. It was interesting watching the shots from my weapon fly right through the shield like a drop in water as the various rounds of the MTs tried desperately to get to Revolution's armour.  
  
I lifted the shotgun and hit my boosters. Revolution raced forward as I fired my shotgun at point blank into their heads, turning them to swiss cheese. I had my shield on and I boosted right into an MT, the shield ripped it to pieces and threw the pieces behind me. I watched as small bolts of electricity waved throughout the shield just as a static ball.  
  
"this is getting boring, Matt." I said as I plowed through another MT and used my shotgun to render another immobile by knocking the legs off.  
  
"well, what would make it more interesting for you?"  
  
"I think I need a blade, or two."  
  
"or two? Well, if your gonna think, think big I guess. I could hook you up. I'm gonna deactivate the battle mode on the MTs, come on back and I'll equip a blade for you."  
  
"alright." I crushed the MT that I was holding in my hand and threw it behind me. Then I turned a boosted back towards the garage. The boost was starting to have less and less effect on me. My eyes only blurred a small amount and my reflexes were getting better to get myself back under control after I initiate the boost.  
  
I made it back to the garage in about six seconds and matt already had the hangar door open and the grappling arms holding two blades up in the air, ready to be equipped. I stepped inside and held my arms out so he could equip the blades to my forearms.  
  
"alright, hold still. These should auto recognize and fit well with the system you have in place already. All arms have a slot for equipping a blade. Sadly you have a lot of upgrades on your AC already that make your standard stuff especially heavy, so, these are not the best blades. They aren't the worst, but don't count on these to cut through any really heavy duty armour or pierce any high quality shields."  
  
"can I use these with my energy shield on? Will they go through or am I gonna kill myself trying?"  
  
"eh, actually I don't know. They should work. The polarity is completely opposite on the blades from the shield, that partially how it is able to absorb the energy from other weapons. But, I would like to see what that shield would do to a blade that came in contact from the outside."  
  
"that would be something special. Do you have any test units with blades?"  
  
"well, I have an AI AC that has blades. That is the only thing that it is equipped with."  
  
"I thought you said that you hadn't used an AI system on an AC yet?"  
  
"well, not an a customers AC. I have had it on some of my test MTs before I got rid of the ones with blades so I still have at least one good opponent to spar against."  
  
"You? You pilot?"  
  
"of course I pilot! You don't think I would let you guys have all the fun."  
  
"where do you keep your AC?"  
  
"I have kept it at a few different places. It is usually kept here to keep it away from prying eyes, but right now it is at the garage. It's a great AC. all it has is blades though."  
  
"well, if you skilled enough to use them then that shouldn't be a problem, right?"  
  
"yeah, your right." He was silent for a few moments. "well, there you go Xero. Two new blades for you."  
  
"hey, I'm gonna leave my weapons here so I can have some fun with these things, alright?"  
  
"yeah, sure. Have fun. As soon as you get to within one hundred meters the MTs will activate battle mode again."  
  
"okay." I set my weapons down on the ground of the hangar and turned to boost back out to the battle area.  
  
I faced the direction of the MTs and hit my booster. I flew back out to the area at an excess of six hundred MPH. I closed in on one of the MTs and they all opened fire once again. I turned on my red shield and got a warning after thrusting my right blade through the head of the nearest MT.  
  
"warning, battery bank for shield systems, running low." The computer warned. I looked down at my generator gauge and saw that it wasn't even an eighth used.  
  
"computer, re-route energy systems for the shields over to the generator."  
  
"confirmed." The computer replied.  
  
"I hope that worked." I boosted forward and used my blades in unison to cleave the MT in front of me into two pieces at the chest. A shell flew at me from the right and was thrown aside haplessly by the red shield. "I guess it worked." I boosted away as the MT exploded behind me.  
  
I kept this up for about another hour, never reaching half charge on my energy gauge. Then I headed back to the garage.  
  
"so, how do you like it?"  
  
"I think its great. The only thing is that it makes things a little too easy. Ya-know?"  
  
"well, it may be too easy against my test MTs but just wait until you get out to the real world and have to fight in the arena and have to go on some B to A ranked missions."  
  
"yeah, I guess your right."  
  
"well, I thank you for the chance to work with you Xero and for allowing me to work on your AC. Revolution gave me some interesting moments." He said, glancing to the side. "freak'n hydraulic pumps spitting at me."  
  
"so, is there anything else you would like to do? Or can I go ahead and take her back to the garage?"  
  
"you can go ahead and take her. But the one thing I would appreciate is if you could bring yourself and your girlfriend and come over to our house for diner tonight. Think that would be okay?"  
  
I had never heard anyone refer to blaze as my 'girlfriend' but I really didn't mind. "Yeah, I'm sure we can make it."  
  
"that would be great. Be here by seven, alright?"  
  
I looked down at my watch, making Revolution look as if she had a watch on as she mover her arm up to match my movements. It read five thirty. "well, I'll have to leave now. And even then it might be a close call."  
  
"well, bring your ACs back if that would mean your on-time. I hate late guests."  
  
I found it funny that he would say this after giving me such a strict and close arrival time, but whatever. "we might have to do that." I stepped into the garage to grab my weapons. I picked them up and stepped back out o the garage. "well, I'll see you at seven."  
  
"C'ya later Xero." He looked back down to the console and began closing the hangar doors as I stepped out of the garage and outside. I boosted up and over his house. Picked up my truck, and began boosting back.  
  
"well, blaze is gonna be surprised when I tell her I want to race to this guys house." I boosted away, leaving a huge blue plasma trail behind me. 


	10. First Encounter

Chapter 10 First Encounter  
  
I made it back to the garage in no time flat. But upon reaching it I realized that I would never be on time if I dropped of Revolution and took the truck. So instead of that plan I picked the truck back up and began boosting to Trene. I made it back to my house and kneeled Revolution down in the street in front of the house, much to the horror of the neighbors. I put Revolution on standby and ran inside.  
  
"blaze!" I yelled upon gaining entrance to the house.  
  
"What?" I heard her yelp from upstairs.  
  
"tell me your dressed, please be dressed..."  
  
"well, I am right now but I think that is the first time you've been this excited with my having clothes on."  
  
I threw her comment behind me. "hey, hurry up and get out here. We have a dinner date with the guy who fixed up my AC. we have to go to the garage to you can get your AC. that is the only way well be on time."  
  
"where is your truck? And was that you just now? That rumble out front?" she walked out over the catwalk and began talking to me from the banister.  
  
"yeah that was me. I came back in Revolution so that I would make it. C'mon, hurry up we need to get to the garage so you can get your AC."  
  
"my AC?"  
  
"no more questions! C'mon, we need to go!"  
  
"alright, alright. Let me get my pants back on."  
  
"eh?" oh god. What did I miss?  
  
I heard thumps coming down the stairs. I looked over and sure enough, blaze was jumping over the last piece of the stair wall and landing right in front of me. "ready."  
  
I gathered myself after she made me jump when she landed. "alright, lets go then." I walked out the door and out to Revolution.  
  
"how am I supposed to get there?"  
  
"well, I could carry you with the AC or you could ride in the cockpit with me?"  
  
"I'll ride."  
  
I climbed up to the cockpit hatch and blaze followed. I got in and instructed Revolution to extend the extra grab bars for blaze. This time though, four bars came out and straps with them.  
  
"well, I guess he did a few unmentioned upgrades." Blaze climbed into the harness and strapped herself in. "you in tight?"  
  
she looked at me with a sly grin. "always." She smirked then went back to tightening her chest strap. "ready."  
  
I strapped in and activated al systems, then stood Revolution up. "your ready? No your not..."  
  
"wha-" she got half of her word out when she was silence by my boosting straight upwards. As soon as I was twice as clear of the buildings as I needed to be I hit my boosters toward Cercall. Which I'm sure made here eyes blur and knocked the wind out of her.  
  
We were in Cercall in five minutes. I landed in front of the AC hangar door. The door opened slowly and I walked inside. "where is your AC?" I didn't get an answer.  
  
I looked back to see blaze's head back against the wall and her eyes opened about as they would go. "hey? You okay?" she was breathing very heavily.  
  
"you... ASSHOLE!!" she came out of those harnesses faster than I thought humanly possible. She jumped over from the bottom bar and wraped her arms around my neck as she flew through the air. "I'll kill you!" she swung her arm back and brought it around. Luckily my arm was there to catch it. Making Revolution's arm move to match.  
  
"hey, I'm still strapped in remember! Go and get your AC. you can kill me later."  
  
"fine!" She yelled in my face. "Then she jumped to the open hatch." She leaned out a bit and looked down. Then she leaned back in and looked at me. "you want me to jump?"  
  
"oh!" I realized that I was still standing straight up, making the hatch about twenty-five to thirty feat off the ground. I kneeled down slowly as to not knock blaze out of the hatch. "hurry up." I told her as she jumped out of the AC and to the ground.  
  
She ran inside and I boosted up over the garage and landed in front of the AC entrance to the garages to wait for blaze. "how long can it take to get in an AC?" I said impatiently just as the door began rolling upward about ten minutes later.  
  
I expected blaze to walk out in her AC but was instead greeted with the view of the strange, red and black AC that I had seen in the garage a few days before. It walked out of the hanger doors, stood in front of me, and put its hand up to my shoulder. It patted Revolution's shoulder and then took a step aside and walked away. I turned to look at it again and it was gone, nowhere in sight. I didn't know how a twelve to fifteen meters tall machine can just disappear but it had managed it.  
  
"what are you looking at?"  
  
I turned around again and blaze was standing in front of me. "geez, how long does it take to get in an AC?" I asked, shaking off what had just happened for another time and place where I could think.  
  
"obviously it takes a few minutes." She said, leaning to the side a bit. "you ready to go yet?"  
  
"yeah, lets get moving." I said, turning and walked away from the garage. "hey, wanna race?" I asked her as she walked behind me.  
  
"yeah, why not. I doubt your AC is fast enough to beat Tempest here." Her AC moved its arm up and patted the chest.  
  
"even after riding with me?"  
  
"eh, ACs always seem much faster when your not in control."  
  
"alright then. Here is the location of the guy's house." I told the computer to send over the coordinates. "okay, we'll start here, first one there is the winner."  
  
"what is the prize?"  
  
"for winning? Eh, we'll figure that out when I win." I said with a sly grin.  
  
"oh really? What are you concocting in that sick mind of yours?"  
  
"you'll find out." I said as I took a starting position. She stepped up next to me and took the same position.  
  
"ready?"  
  
"your asking me? You go first." I told her.  
  
"you want me to go first? Well, normally I would argue that but since you seem so intent on losing then I guess I will." She took off running then hit her boosters, kicking dirt up into my ACs face.  
  
"hehehe...." I hit my boosters and zoomed off into the night. Blaze was well ahead of me but I was closing, really fast. I caught up with her and began boosting backward in front of her as I went past.  
  
"you ass!" she yelled as I flew past her and took the lead with a vengeance.  
  
"haha! What now!" I yelled as I took off for Matt's house.  
  
I continued flying for about 5 minutes and was sure I was almost to matt's house. I had long since left blaze in my past. I was alone along the flat open ground when the area directly underneath me exploded. I was through up into the air and tumbled head over heels about three times, I couldn't really count but that was my best guess.  
  
"what the hell!?!?" I landed on my back. I struggled to get to my feet, my legs felt like jello after being flung around by the force of my landing. I stood and scanned around me... nothing. I turned to look behind me and was faced with the horrifying head of the strange units I kept seeing on my missions. I reacted as anyone would and promptly fell backwards onto my ass once more. I started moving backwards, dragging my ass along behind me when I finally realized that I had boosters on my back.  
  
I hit my booster, which picked me back up to my feet and up into the air. I regained myself while in the air and decided to land and see what the hell this thing wanted.  
  
I hope this thing don't want to fight, it doesn't look like it will be pretty if it does... I thought to myself as I lowered myself to the ground.  
  
I landed and opened a comm. channel. "what do you want from me? Why do you keep appearing everywhere?" I said calmly, hoping to get a response.  
  
The only response I got was the thing lifting its hand and a blade like object protrude from its palm. Blue liquid came out with the blade, as if it 'cut' itself as it came through. The unit lurched forward and brought the blade up and around to swing it down onto me.  
  
I was stunned, I couldn't move until it came to just above my 'collar' when I jumped back, the tip of the blade scraping against the front of Revolution's armour.  
  
God help me, here I go... I thought to myself as I lifted my shotgun and fired.  
  
The spread shot pummeled the unit but did little to slow its advance. It flew at me at ungodly speed and whipped its other hand around as another blade came out of its other hand. It continued coming at me as I brought my machinegun up as well and began firing both of my weapons at the incoming abomination. My shots were connecting but didn't seem to be doing much damage...  
  
Screw this!  
  
"You little bastard! Come get me!! I dare you to move!" I screamed over the open comm. as I threw my weapons to the side and ignited both of my blades at the same time that I hit my boosters towards the incoming unit. We came to close proximity and I swung my right blade downward and the other I stabbed upward. The units' left blade went through Revolution's right shoulder as my right blade connected with its left shoulder coming downward. The units' right blade was being swung horizontally from the outside but my upward stab was faster and it went up through the front of its core and came out through the top of its head. The units' right blade continued to swing horizontally but by the time it got to my core it had lost all its strength and merely clanged against my armour when it connected.  
  
I turned off both of my blades and stepped away from the unit as it fell to the ground. A giant hole burned through the core and head, its left arm lay a few meters from the body. Upon closer inspection it seemed that it was quite like an actual body, the hole looked more like a wound than the usual melted hole surrounded by scorched metal that is usually present after an attack like that. In fact, it looked like a wound that was cauterized shut. There was no more of that blue liquid seeping from the wound as there was when the blades came out. I bent over to get a closer look at it but as I did, the unit began to shift and disappear like sand in the wind. The sand blew all around me in a spiral before floating up into the sky.  
  
What the hell are these things?  
  
I had been trying to forget about these things for a better time to think about them and look for answers but it seems that they have followed me, and they do not intend to give me the time I was asking for. I walked back to pick up my weapons and clipped them back to my waist. I hit my boosters once again towards Matt's house.  
  
"Matt has seen a lot, maybe he knows something..." I thought as I came up towards Matt's house. I looked around and as expected, Blaze had not yet arrived. I put Revolution down behind his house and exited the cockpit. I stepped from the AC and walked toward the back door of Matt's house.  
  
I was about fifteen feet from his door when it sprang open and Matt was standing in the doorway. "Hey Xero, I see you had some trouble on the way out here." He said as he pointed towards Revolution's shoulder.  
  
"Yeah, nothing important was damaged. The arm still works flawlessly." I said when I stopped and turned to look back at the machine which was kneeling in Matt's backyard.  
  
"so, what happened exactly?"  
  
"well, actually that is something that I would like to talk to you about."  
  
He raised an eyebrow.  
  
"can we talk in the garage?"  
  
"yeah sure, let me tell Robin to hold diner for a few minutes." He stepped back inside for a moment then reappeared in the doorway. "alright, lets go." He stepped out of the house and closed the door behind him. I followed him to the garage. We stepped inside and he lead me to an office like room off to the side of the main door. The room was more like a recreation room actually. It had a pool table, two couches that sat opposite each other, and some laze-y-boy chairs scattered around. He walked over and took a seat at one of the couches. I sat at the opposite couch. "what is it you want to talk about, Xero?"  
  
"okay, I don't know if you are going to have any answers for me or if you are even going to believe me but here I go anyway." I took a deep breath.  
  
But he interrupted me before I could say anything, "if it is anything regarding women I cannot help you..."  
  
We both laughed.  
  
"no not this time Matt, maybe later but not now." I laughed again, I guess it was easy to see that something was bothering me since he was trying to help me out. I was glad he was trying. "alright, serious now; when I was on my initial raven test I saw a strange looking unit at the end of the test. Now, before you say anything, I am talking like, 'not of this world' kind of strange. This thing was the size of an AC but it had these really weird parts that had horns and stuff. And they are just really weird. Then I have seen them on missions, I have seen them in the place of something else. Like I look at something and I see one of these units instead then I blink and what its gone."  
  
He didn't say anything, he just closed his eyes and bowed his head.  
  
I continued, "then today, when I was on my way here, I fought one. I thought that it may have just been me getting illusional because I am screwed up in the head but when it flew at me and this blade came out of its hand, I started thinking they might be real."  
  
Still no response.  
  
"I am telling you this because I was hoping since you have seen a lot and have been around for a while, not saying your old, but have been around the block. I was hoping that you could tell me a little of what is going on exactly." I paused for breath. "so Matt, you got anything for me?"  
  
he slowly raised his head  
  
"I know what you are fighting, I know some of what they are." He finaly responded.  
  
My heart jumped.  
  
"but..."  
  
my heart sank.  
  
"I cannot tell you what they are and where they are from yet. You are just not ready. You will know when to come back for some answers. But that time is not now."  
  
He sounded much more serious than the normal joking person that he usually is. "I don't quite understand, why can't you tell me? What am I not ready for?"  
  
"in due time, you will understand. Now, bring your AC in here and I will have then computer auto repair when we are at diner."  
  
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "NO, damn you! Tell me what the hell is going on before it kills me!"  
  
"Xero! Do not yell at me! You will regret it." He bellowed. "now God damnit, I am no happier about this than you! But there is nothing we can do about it for now. We will have to wait and see what happens. But I assure you that no matter what happens, it will not kill you until you decide to let it!"  
  
"I still don't understand..."  
  
"I don't expect you to. Now, go get Revolution in here."  
  
"whatever..." I stood quickly and walked outside and back into Revolution's cockpit. I stood and saw Blaze's AC in the front yard. I walked Revolution over to the hanger door of the garage. I stepped in and stood up to the scaffold after the door opened. I locked Revolution in position and powered down the AC. I got out of the cockpit and made my way back to the house. I walked right past Matt, who was typing away into the console in front of Revolution. I didn't say a word as I passed. I wasn't in much of a mood for talking. He stepped away from the console as I walked past and he followed me out of the garage and back to the house.  
  
He stopped me before we got through the door, "hey, don't be mad at me. Don't be mad at my wife. Don't be mad at your girlfriend. Don't be mad at your friends. You will get the answers you are searching for, just... not today. Alright?" he looked up at me with a smile.  
  
I couldn't stay mad at him forever, I'm sure he has his reasons for not telling me. He said he would tell me right? He hasn't let me down yet. "Yeah, its alright. Lets eat."  
  
"Lets." He followed me into the house.  
  
We walked inside and he showed me to the table. Blaze and his wife, Robin, were already sitting at the table and were waiting for us to begin eating.  
  
"you hungry?" I said as I took a seat next to Blaze.  
  
"you bet!" she replied.  
  
Matt sat down at the end of the table. "who wants to say grace?" 


	11. The Dream

Chapter 11  
  
They finished eating rather quickly and departed Matt's house with a fond wave and a good luck from Matt. Xero walked back out of the garage to pick up Revolution. He stepped inside and the lights came on as he walked inside. He looked up and Revolution had been fitted with a new armour plate over the shoulder. He climbed up the stairs and up onto he core of Revolution. He climbed in and put his suit back on. "Revolution, initialize startup procedure."  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
He stood silently, listening, as the generator of the AC roared to life. "Blaze, you ready?" He asked over the open comm.  
  
"yeah, I'm here. Let's go." He walked out of the garage and started walking around Matt's house. He looked over and Blaze was standing in front of Matt's house, ready to go.  
  
The comm. came up, "Xero, remember what I said. The time will come, not now. Don't try to rush things."  
  
"yeah, yeah..." Xero was a little frustrated with the whole situation.  
  
"and Blaze," Matt said over the comm.,  
  
"Yes?" she replied.  
  
"help him as much as you can, I have a feeling things are going to get a little dicey soon. He will need all the help he can get." The comm. closed as he finished his sentence.  
  
"why are you telling her to help him? Do you feel the time is fast approaching?" Robin asked her husband back inside the house.  
  
"I know the time is coming." He sighed as he dropped his head, "and the thing is, Xero is nowhere near ready for them to happen and I'm worried. He is arrogant and naïve. He may get himself killed." He turned to his wife and put a hand on her shoulder.  
  
She put her hand on his, "it will be alright, we won last time didn't we?"  
  
He looked up into her face and smiled. "yes we did..." he replied, "...but not by much."  
  
Xero turned Revolution back in the direction of the garage and brought the comm. up. "C'mon Blaze, let's continue that race back to the garage."  
  
"You're on..." she replied half-heartily. She continued to wonder what Matt meant when he told her to help Xero. She hit her boosters back toward the garage.  
  
Xero closed the comm. then brought up another with Matt, "I hope you know what you're doing Matthew." He turned back and hit the boosters.  
  
Xero beat Blaze back to the garage quite easily. Upon reaching the garage they came upon a dilemma.  
  
"um... Xero? How are we gonna get back home? You left the truck at home in the driveway."  
  
"crap. Well, we have a few options; one, we could park the ACs and take a bus. Two, we could take t he ACs home and get kicked out of the neighborhood. Three, I could run home really quick in Revolution and bring the truck back here. Or four, we could walk. Which would you prefer?"  
  
a sarcastic moment of silence passed. "how long would it take you to get the truck and bring it back here?" she asked.  
  
"Well, probably about five to ten minutes." Xero replied.  
  
"I'll wait here, get moving..." she walked up to the garage and brought the comm. up with the garage control to open the gates.  
  
Alright then, I guess I'm gonna go pick up the truck... he thought to himself.  
  
Xero turned on his heel and ignited his boosters back toward home. Fifteen minutes later he was back at the garage helping Blaze into the truck. He closed the door and walked around to the other side, got in, and started the truck. Forty minutes from then they were pulling into the driveway in Trene city.  
  
Xero checked his watch. "its only nine o'clock."  
  
"well, what do you want to do before we head to bed?"  
  
"I have no idea. There isn't anything to do really." He turned to her after they stepped inside and they both fell into the couch. "you have any ideas?"  
  
"notta."  
  
"alright then. This could get real boring real fast."  
  
"and it probably shall." She leaned forward and grabbed the remote from the coffee table.  
  
"TV? That is the best that you can come up with? Terrible..."  
  
"you have a better idea?"  
  
"nope. But I am going to head to bed early then. I have a headache, I'm gonna get some NyQuil and get some sleep."  
  
"alright. See you later."  
  
"how late you plan on staying up?"  
  
"eh, I don't know, I will probably watch a movie then head to bed."  
  
"alright, g'night."  
  
"night."  
  
Xero made his way up the stairs to his room. He got undressed and climbed into bed.  
  
I wonder what Matt knows that he won't tell me? Why would he not tell me? And what the hell did he mean when he said that I will know soon enough? Know what? And I wish that whenever it is would hurry up...  
  
he laid in bed for another half hour before finally falling asleep...  
  
"Morrow!! Check left!!!" Morrow turned to the left just in time for him to put up an arm to block the impaling spike that ran through his left arm. The spike was attached to the core of another of those strange units.  
  
"god damn!! That thing would've ran straight through my core!!" he pulled the unit above his head by lifting his arm and fired his KARASAWA straight through it. He threw the unit down behind him.  
  
"YYYAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!" Xero looked back behind him and Angel was being chased backwards by two more units. She kept boosting backward until another unit came up behind her and ran its sword straight through her head. She stopped boosting and the units that were following her stabbed both of their blades through her core, blood tipping the ends that protruded from the other side.  
  
"ANGEL!!!" Morrow screamed over the comm. as he hit the over boost and sliced the three units in half with his MOONLIGHT as he flew by. Angel's AC fell lifelessly to the ground, five great holes buried through her AC. one in her head, and four through the core. The units turned to sand and blew away as she fell limply to the ground.  
  
Xero looked behind him and saw Blaze standing still, looking at Angel's AC fall to the ground. More units flew up behind her and beheaded Blaze's AC  
  
"Xero! Behind you!!" he heard a strange new voice scream as he turned to face an AC that rocked his very sanity. Xero felt the color drain from his face as he looked upwards into the eyes of a demon. He looked the AC over and noticed the same blue and red veins running through the core, legs, and arms and then up into the head through the neck. the demon held a large scythe in its right hand, the scythe had two large red beams coming out of the edge and it appeared to be made of bone. the demon had a pair of horrible wings protruding from its back, they were extended out to the sides and the sheer size of the wings added to the size of this demon appeared to fill the area immidiately around it. the blood-red ribs running along the chest seemed the glow as they reflected the light of the glowing veins. Xero tried to take a step backward as the AC raised its massive scythe but his legs felt as though they were cement. his pupils shrunk and the only thoughts that rang through his mind as he watch the scythe lift higher above him were why me? what the Hell does this thing want with me?  
  
"this is where I end it boy! You have caused me too much trouble, son of my enders!!"  
  
"son of what?" he managed to gasp before the massive scythe ripped through his core again.  
  
"XEROOO!!!!!" a distant scream sounded as Xero flew upright in his bed, covered in a cold sweat and breathing heavily.  
  
What the Hell was that?! He took a few moments to regain himself and breath. A dream...?  
  
"Xero...?"  
  
he looked to his left and Blaze was sitting up in bed, holding the blankets up to her neck and tears down her cheeks.  
  
"are you alright Xero? You were talking and yelling in your sleep. You really scared me..."  
  
"oh Blaze, I'm fine... just a dream." He reached over and put his arms around her shoulders. "why are you crying? Did I scare you that much?"  
  
"yeah... sorry, I guess I just... just..." she buried her head in his neck, "sorry..." she sobbed.  
  
"quiet down now... nothing to be worried about." He paused, "your just a little quick to cry. I'm fine, everything is okay."  
  
She pulled her head back and looked at him.  
  
He looked into her eyes, "everything is fine, like I said. Now, how about we get back to sleep?"  
  
She nodded her head and laid back down, he never let go of her shoulders though. They laid in bed for a few more minutes, Blaze's arms held up over her chest, Xero's arms around her shoulders and her head resting on his chest.  
  
Xero opened his eyes to be blinded by more sunlight from the window. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. I had a dream right...? I remember now... he looked to his left and Blaze was sleeping on her side, the blankets pulled up to her neck and breathing deeply. There was no expression on her face. Normally she wears a small smile while sleeping but there was nothing, it was kind'ove strange. Seeing her like that sent a small chill down Xero's spine.  
  
He got out of bed and walked to the shower. He undressed and got in, letting the cold water flow over his face and body. He stayed there for a few minutes until he got very cold, at which point we switched the water to hot shortly before turning it off.  
  
He walked down stairs and ate some cereal. While he was eating he heard Blaze coming down the stairs. Nothing was said, she walked up and past him, not looking at him or making any sign of his existence. She walked past him and got some cereal out of the cupboard. She poured some in a bowl and put some milk on it. She brought it over to the table and sat next to him with her bowl.  
  
"so..." she started, "how did you sleep last night?"  
  
"well, after that weird dream... I slept okay." Xero replied, which was a lie but he wasn't sure about telling her too much about it.  
  
"good. Well, what do we have planned for today?"  
  
"well, I was gonna head down to the garage and look for a mission. I am getting bored sitting around here all the time."  
  
"sounds good, mind if I tag along?"  
  
"on what? A mission, or to the garage?"  
  
"duh, a mission. What, did you really think I was gonna sit in the nest and wait for you to come back?"  
  
"I guess it was a stupid thing to ask." He stood with his bowl, now void of cereal and the remaining milk sloshing about. He walked to the sink and dumped it down the drain. "I wanna leave pretty soon. Never good to take a mission late in the day." He recalled the last time he took a mission late in the day.  
  
"alright, just let me get dressed." She ate the last bites of her cereal as Xero walked back upstairs to get his jacket.  
  
They arrived at the garage a little over an hour later. They parked the truck and went to the nest.  
  
They stepped inside and Blaze went straight for the snack bar. "I'm hungry!" Xero proceeded to the mission log computers on the far wall. He sat at a vacant computer and entered his account number and began searching the mission boards.  
  
Mirage...Crest...Mirage...Mirage...Mirage... "I guess Mirage is moving out a bit." He laughed to himself a bit, "either they have made some new enemies or they are expanding their borders."  
  
Blaze appeared behind him, "so...? Anything?" she took another bite of a small burrito that she had bought.  
  
"well, there are quite a few Mirage missions. And I am not so sure that Crest really trusts us anymore."  
  
"well then I guess its Mirage." She said with a half full mouth.  
  
"well, not quite. Look at this." He pointed to a mission request from a new corporation. And read the mission description aloud. "search and destroy. Mirage has been expending their territory in leaps and bounds due in large part to the help of a particular raven that has been working exclusively for them. Mirage has been using this raven far too much and has been benefiting far too much from his existence. We request that you search out the exact whereabouts of this raven and eliminate him. We have learned that he will be in the canyon area between the times of eight and thirteen- hundred hours. Please make your way to the area and eliminate the target."  
  
"sounds tough, a single raven that has been benefiting a single corporation that much. he must be damn good."  
  
"yeah, but look at the reward, sixty K." Blaze's eyes widened. "quite a bit of credits. And look, three consort slots. That's twenty K each."  
  
"I can do math. But if you only have two people run the mission, that's thirty each." Blaze responded.  
  
"duh..."  
  
"so, who is requesting?"  
  
"they're called Vega Tech. apparently they are brand new, just formed a few months ago but they are already pushing into the mainstream corporations. they have been advancing quickly with the help of some major technology improvements."  
  
"well, you wanna try it?" Blaze asked, stuffing the last half-inch of her burrito into her mouth.  
  
Xero looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "you think we can take him?"  
  
She chewed and swallowed, then she examined the ceiling for a moment. "I think so, two on one is good enough odds for me. Even if he is an ace, I mean, you beat the A-1 raven on your first mission in an AC. I think that gives us a pretty good chance." She paused again. "yeah, lets go for it."  
  
"alright..." Xero said as he hesitantly clicked the 'accept' icon and passed off the comment Blaze made. "okay, we're in. this is a time sensitive mission. The offer ends tonight at midnight. So I suggest that we get going."  
  
"alright then. Lets go suit up." She hurried off out of the nest and down toward the garages. Xero followed shortly after reading up on the mission parameters and checking the location. 


	12. First Lead

Chap 12

"AC Revolution, initiating startup procedure." Xero stood in the cockpit, listening as the generator and subsystems booted up and roared to life. "starting system check... all green."

"Revolution, remind me to check your programming. You have a different startup message every time you boot up."

"yes sir."

Xero opened the comm. "Blaze, you ready to go?" he looked over and watched as Blaze stepped forward. Her AC Templar stepped out of the stall and walked up to Revolution's side.

"Ready. Where are we headed?"

"the Canyon in sector seven-six-five. Wanna race?"

she glanced at him sideways, "no thanks. Lets just get there quickly."

"well, its only a few hundred klicks away."

"lets just boost then. You will get there a bit faster then me with your overboost."

"eh, I'm not exactly supposed to use the overboost yet."

"whatever, can we go now?"

"yeah yeah, here are the coordinates." He sent a short burst transmission with the coordinates over to Blaze.

"lets go then." She boosted off towards the area designated by Xero. Xero followed shortly.

Xero quickly overtook Blaze but then had to slow up to wait for her. They made it to the area together in about two hours. Xero stopped and looked down into a large gorge, the bottom was far out of sight.

"don't want to fall into one of those." Blaze stepped up beside him and shared a glance down the hole.

"tell me about it." Xero righted himself and looked around. The area was mostly mesas and sandy plains, the few plants growing were a few near-dead trees that were spread far and sparce.

"we are in the time zone, he should be here."

The comm. rang up, "Xero, this is your operator. My name is Joseph Quinn. Nice to meet you."

Xero was a little surprised by the sudden appearance of an operator that he hadn't really signed for, but brushed it off casually, "Same here Joseph. Now, you got anything on where this guy might be?"

"yes, I am setting a mission boundary right now into your radar. You are near the left corner of the grid. He is close to the opposite side of the map. Head there now."

"on it, c'mon Blaze." Xero hit his boosters and proceeded towards the yellow line on his radar.

Thirty seconds later they had a visual on him. He had a midweight AC with the MOONLIGHT blade, and a right hand sniper rifle. He also had a chaingun and a laser cannon on his back. It looked like a damn good design. He was standing faced away from us with his arms crossed and his sniper rifle sitting on the ground and leaning against his right leg.

"well, it seems my secret is out... oh darn." He said sarcastically over the comm. "explain yourselves before I kill you."

_He wants to kill me already?_ "I'm Xero..." He said as he boosted up to about five-hundred meters. Blaze came up shortly after, "and this is my consort Blaze. Nice to meet you...?"

"well, Xero. My name is Tyre, who sent you?"

"Vega Tech. they seem to want you dead for helping Mirage a little too much."

"really?" his voice came coolly and cold over the comm. His right arm came down and picked up his rifle. Xero and Blaze took ready positions, but the only other movement he made was lifting the gun up and pointing it behind him, at us. He popped off a single shot that almost made Xero laugh until he heard, and felt, the thunderous crash of an AC falling to the ground.

Xero turned to see Templar on the ground with a bullet right through the top of the core, cutting the main control helix of the entire Core.

She thankfully still had communication and video, "Xero, I'm alright, behind!"

A quick turn and the moonlight blade found itself burning into the left shoulder of Revolution instead of the head.

Xero hit the boosters and kicked up red sand everywhere as he flew back and up, his own left blade swinging up and knocking the invading plasma stream away. The blade did not follow, instead three rifle shots found their way into the left shoulder as well. "he seems pretty determined to take out my left arm." The third shot did accomplish this task as the arm went limp with its impact.

Xero responded by reversing his inertia, with great effort, and bringing up his shotgun as his shields came online. Two shotgun blasts found their target but little of the metal found a weak spot and sunk in, the rest simply ricocheting off with scratches and burn marks.

Tyre boosted to the left and brought over his laser cannon. He fired a single shot then immediately followed by switching to his chain gun and setting himself to continuous fire.

Xero easily dodged the laser blast but had a lot more trouble with the chain gun rounds, and wasn't sure how long his shield would hold up against the constant attack.

Tyre retracted the chaingun and jumped to meet Xero in midair with a full-on punch to Revolution's head.

Xero opened up his right blade and stabbed forward but Tyre ducked in and did an uppercut to revolution's head. Xero reeled as he lost all his momentum in a split second and hit the ground flat on his back after falling five-hundred meters. His fingers accidentally found the overboost. Something he was specifically warned not to do yet.

"Oh Shi--" was all that Xero had time to mumble before he was moving faster than the speed of sound. Xero's eyes shot open as he looked up and found Tyre floating back to the ground at a sickeningly slow rate.

He stood and felt a severe head rush as Revolution shot to its feet. Xero looked at Tyre, who seemed to have taken no notice that Xero had stood back up. He was still a good hundred meters above the ground. It took Xero a good second to realize that everything was moving slowly, a second in real time, a good ten seconds for Xero.

Xero smirked at the possibilities and hit his boosters and extended his blade. As he flew by he swung his blade three times before landing on the opposite side of Tyre. As he landed back on the reddish sand he hit the overboost again to deactivate it. He spun and watched as Tyre hit the ground without a head or arms.

He heard Blaze and Tyre over the comm simultaneously, "Holy Shit!"

Tyre fell backward and landed hard on his back.

Xero stepped over and his left foot on tyre crushed core. He pointed his shotgun at the general cockpit area of the core. "I doubt any of this would ricochet at this range."

"probably not..." was Tyre's reply

"you have two options, one; you could walk out of that AC. Or two; you could be carried out... in painfully small pieces." He paused for effect, "your choice..."

"what else do you want? You obviously want something else if you are willing to let me live so easily."

"well, yes actually, I'm glad your not stupid. I wanna know what you have really been doing for the last eight months. I had my computer check your records on the way here and either you have nothing to hide, doubtfull, or somebody forgot to encrypt some information." Xero paused to think for a moment, "my computer informed me that you have been a Raven for the last eight months but have only been of ten missions, only three of which were for mirage and even those were a while back. All of your latest were for this new power called Vega Tech."

"it's not your place to wonder how or why these things happen..."

"well, its my place now, I have been involved in some really weird shit lately and some strange gut feeling of mine tells me you tie into it somehow. So, I don't like to leave on a bad note so how about this... how about I let you live and we meet for dinner sometime and discuss it over a nice meal? Hell, I'll even buy."

"Can't turn down an offer for a good meal..."

"then it's settled. I'll be in touch." Xero took his foot off of Tyre's core and turned back towards Templar.

Blaze opened up a secure channel, "your going to let him live?"

"why kill him when he isn't done proving his usefulness." Xero looked back over his shoulder toward the remnants of Tyre's core. The bottom emergency hatch open and Tyre climbing out and surveying what is left of his precious AC. "he could be a powerful ally if he turns out to be friendly." He turned back to Blaze and shrugged, only Revolution's right shoulder moving in response, "if not, I know I can beat him."

"you don't know that." She responded with a bit of bitter sarcasm.

"we'll see, regardless."

Xero cut the connection and opened one up with Joseph, "hey Joseph, could you get me a transport out here, my consort got disabled in the battle and can't move."

"already on it." Came the quick reply. "And Xero?"

"yeah?"

"how in all flaming Hell did you do that?"

"that my friend, is a very good question."


	13. The Link

Chapter 13 The Link

"Nydem! Where are you? I cant see you, but I can feel you..." Feel you in my being, "I know your there..." Dash broke down into a heap and sobbed. Then he felt a slender hand gently touch his shoulder. He lifted his head and there she was.

"I'm right here Daniel," she bent down and embraced him as he sobbed into her shoulder, "its alright..."

-

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-

Xero sat up in bed, again blinded by the light streaming in from the open window. He stood out of bed, stretched, and headed for his morning shower. He looked back at bed before closing the bathroom door, Blaze was already gone.

After his shower he walked downstairs and turned on the computer to check for any messages. As soon as the computer came online, a message came up, "an arena challenge!?"

Xero's blood pressure went up, "this is my first one, oh crap, a one-on-one. No help for me." He read the challenge but there was no record of who sent the challenge. His eyes widened, "Tomorrow?! Damnit, I don't even know if Revolution is repaired yet?"

Blaze walked up behind him, put her arms around his shoulders, and kissed him on the cheek. "What are you reading?"

"and arena challenge." He responded dully

She showed some fake enthusiasm, "from who?"

"it doesn't say." He didn't much appreciate her lack of enthusiasm. "when Morrow had his match you got all excited, what happened to that? You seem bored."

She sighed, "its seven-thirty, its too damn early to be excited about anything."

That explains everything... Xero thought to himself, not feeling any better about the whole thing.

Blaze stood up straight, "I wonder what Morrow and Angel are doing today?"

Xero moaned inside remembering Angel... then he laughed.

-

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-

Xero was inside a repaired Revolution on the platform being raised up into the desert arena. The platform stopped rising and Xero found himself on the southern wall of a large desolate place with giant pillars of sand and rock raising up from random places in the area. To this moment Xero still had no idea who he was supposed to fight.

The arena announcement system came online, the loud voice booming through the arena and the packed stadium that lined the arena behind shielded walls. "the Battle is about to begin, on the southern end we have Xero, a mere few weeks of being a raven and he has already drawn great attention to himself."

Cheers erupted from the stands, Xero's pride swelled a few notched. Why not, he had only been a raven a few weeks now and already he had the crowds roaring. "maybe, not 'roaring'..." he thought to himself.

The announcer came on again, "and on the northern end, we have an old favorite. Thats right, he's back, we have Echo back in the Arena." The roars that ensued after this anouncment made Xero's crowd an afterthought. After a full three minutes of constant abuse by the crowd the announcer came back online to start the match.

3...

2...

1...

Go.

Xero assumed that there were only countdowns for one-on-one matches as he couldn't recall one for Morrows match a few days back.

The com came online, "Xero..." the voice sounded familiar. "this is your test, this is your key, this is the door to the link. Pass the test and you get the key. Fail the test, and everything goes back to normal. You Must defeat me, if you fail, then all is lost..." the voice on the other line inhaled slowly, "if you fail, then all hope is lost..."

_What?_

The com broke with that and Xero saw a large blue plasma blast eurupt from the opposite side of the desert.

"Revolution, magnify image." The on screen image magnified five times to give Xero a large picture of the overboosting AC he 'had' to defeat.

_Black Rose..._ the name popped into his head when he saw it.

It was the AC he saw a few days after becoming a Raven, the Black AC that he saw in the hanger. The black AC that put its hand on his shoulder when it was leaving the garage. It had the same equipment as before, two thirty percent ammo additions and two large weapons attached to the outsides of each fore-arm.

Xero pulled up his shotguns and started firing at the AC as it came closer, but the blasts had no effect on it. It came within striking distance and giant red plasma blades exploded out of the ends of the weapons on the AC's fore-arms. It spun around and brought both blades up and through Revolution's shotguns, slicing each in half.

_Holy Shit!_ Xero dropped the remains of his shotguns and extended both of his blades. He brought one blade up and thrust the other forward.

Too slow.

Black Rose had already shifted to the side and was now standing to Xero's left and swinging both of his blades downward. One blade connected with Xero's left-hand blade and it went right through the opposing blade. The other of the blades connected with Xero's left elbow joint and cut like a hot knife through warm butter. The left arm twitching as it fell to the ground.

Revolution boosted back but Black Rose was already there and swung both blades downward again, severing Xero's back units. Xero lost his balance and fell forward to the ground. He landed hard on his face and rolled over in time to see the Black AC land with its legs to either side of Revolution's core and both Blades pointed downward toward the cockpit.

Xero flipped open a com channel, "who the hell are you!?" Xero's blood was pumping three times faster than normal, his face was red, his knuckles were white. Fear and fury mixing inside him.

"I'm a better friend than you might think, Justin."

"what? Your about to kill the wrong damn person! Who the hell is Justin?!"

"you are. That's your name."

Xero was confused, pissed, and scared now. His eyes beginning to swell with tears. "who are you..." he pleaded.

"its Matt. I'm trying to help you..." he said softly through the com.

_Matthew..._ something inside Xero snapped and his eyes shot wide open as Revolution shot to its feet even faster. Xero blinked and found Revolution standing upright, holding Black Rose up in the air by its neck in one hand. The feet were a good three or four meters off the ground. Black Rose's hands were griping Revolutions arm, trying in vein to wrench it free.

"so, Matt, do I pass your little 'test' now? Huh?! Are you done playing with my life yet? What have you been doing to me and how do you know what my name is!?" the fury that was mixing with his other emotions was now clearly winning the battle.

Matthew laughed into the com, "yes Xero, you pass, with flying colors."

Xero pulled back so that Black Rose's head was inches from Revolution's, "I want answers..." was all that Xero said before he threw Black Rose a quarter way across the arena and through a pillar.

There was silence, until Black Rose stood and the com came up again. "agreed..."

Black Rose fell to one knee and bowed its head, the sign of defeat.

There was silence for another three seconds until the crowds erupted into cheers and applause.

"Xero, meet me in the nest tonight at six. Ill be there, and ill answer all your questions."

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-

At six o'clock Xero was standing just inside the door of the nest. He insisted that he come alone, even though Blaze said she would never speak to him again. He spotted Matt in a corner booth with someone else. He walked over and stood at the end of the table. Matt stood and greeted him with a firm handshake and introduction of the man he was sitting with.

"good to see you well Xero, this is a very good friend of mine. I believe you have met him before..."

the man stood and offered his hand, "call me Tyre. I believe you wanted to meet me?"

Xero raised an eyebrow, "yeah." He inhaled and took a seat. "I'm glad that we are getting more than one thing done here, but I have questions, and I was promised answers."

Matt sat back, "yes you were. Now, a first question would be helpful and then we could go from there..."

Tyre got up, "ill let you two have your little question session first. Ill be back when your done."

"fair enough. How do you know my name?"

"well, thats easy enough. I knew your parents. They told me when you were born." Matt sat forward again and folded his hands on the table.

"whats bothering you?"

"I am about to do something, about to give you something, that I may never forgive myself for."

"oh shit..."

"I am not the one, or rather, the ones, to tell you about your past. You need to hear it from the ones that were there from the beginning."

"the begin-" Xero started, but was interrupted by Matt.

"you only asked me one simple question so far and I'm sure you have more, many more. I'm afraid that I wont be able to answer all your questions, even though you just sat down not five minutes ago. I already think that you should go and meet them. And if they find you ready, then maybe you will take them home with you."

"what the hell are you talking about?"

Matt turned around and called to Tyre. He walked back over and stood next to the table. He looked down at Matt. Matthew looked him in the eyes and nodded, Tyre returned the guesture and then looked at Xero.

Matt looked back to Xero, "I give you your key."

Tyre stepped forward and extended his hand, "My name is John, nice to finally meet you Justin."


	14. The Door

Chapter 14 The Door

Three days later, Xero found himself in Revolution's cockpit; following Tyre out into the tundra of the southern ice cap. The trip had been silent so far except when they left; Xero asked where they were going after they got on the transport but only got the silent treatment.

They had been boosting for about two hours after the transport dropped them off in the middle of nowhere. Tyre would go straight for a while, then make a completely random, or so it seemed, turn and go off in that direction for a while before making another turn. And so they had traveled for the last two hours.

Tyre stopped quite abruptly. "we're here."

Xero stopped beside him and watched as Tyre went down to one knee and placed a hand into the snow. He pulled his hand back out holding a diamond white orb. He lifted the orb to shoulder height and let go of it.

Xero shot his hand out to catch it but the sphere stayed in the air. "what the hell is this?"

Tyre's red AC looked up at Xero, "that, my friend, is your door. Open it."

Revolution reached forward and grasped the orb in both hands, Xero being careful not to grab too tight, lest it shatter. Suddenly, blue-white snakes of energy burst forth from the orb and wrapped themselves around Revolution's arms and worked their way up towards the core.

Xero watched as the energy snakes slid through the video monitors on the inside of the cockpit and wrapped themselves around his body. The entire time he could hear Tyre's voice through the comm system, telling him to keep calm and to let things happen as they were.

"Xero, I've got three units on my radar, can you confirm?"

Xero struggled to move his head upward to check the radar and voiced through a strained neck, "confirmed."

"alright, Xero, once your in, you can take your time you wont have to worry. I can handle these. But more will come, once you get out, be prepared for a fight." Tyre's voice faded off with the last few words as Xero watched him boost off toward the three red blips on his radar.

Xero closed his eyes as the sound faded and the screens started going black around him.

When he opened his eyes he found himself in a white room, if one could call it a room, it had no visible end to it, no ceiling, no walls, the only confirmation that Xero had that there was a floor was the fact that he was not falling. And that was just the thing, it was only Him inside this place, Revolution was nowhere to be seen.

"Is he the One?" A shapeless voice said.

Xero spun around, there didn't appear to be a point of origin of the voice. It was just there. But upon spinning around, Xero did see an orb floating about five feet above to 'ground'. It was identical to the sphere that he had caught with his AC seconds later.

Xero took a step closer. "I'm not sure… what do you think Kirel?" another voice spoke out, different from the first but there still didn't seem to be any point of origin.

The voice of a woman answered, "He is the one, I'm sure of it. He is their son. The only problem is that he doesn't seem to know what that means exactly."

"but how can he not know? After all this time…" the first of the voices responded.

"He will still need to be tested of course." Kirel said, "But we should tell him first."

"and what seems like a good test to you Kirel?" the second voice rang.

"perhaps if he were to face and conquer the gifts himself he could be deemed ready to receive them."

_Am I going insane? _

Xero got a response.

He heard laughter, "surely you don't think your going insane? If you are thinking such things you truly are ignorant." Kirel spoke to him, "this is nothing as trivial as insanity, your fate is being decided."

_My fate?_

"It will all come full-circle in due time, my dear boy." Kirel assured him.

_Wait, what test? What gifts? And what do you mean, 'their son'?_

"well, the gifts you are to receive are the Shukkerra Katanas and the Kyrind Wings."

_The What?_

"They are the same weapons your parents used, they hold great power, but only if wielded by a great heart."

_What do you mean?_

"well, the weapons feed off of the pilot, off the emotions and drives of the pilot. They get stronger or weaker depending on the pilot."

_That's kinda hard to believe, but here I am talking to voices in my head._

"How dare you!" the first voice rang out, "we are more than mere 'voices in your head', much more… we _are_ the weapons, we _are_ the souls of the weapons of the creators! Don't you understand that!"

"do not be so harsh on the boy, he still knows very little." Kirel spoke again, "I believe that is why he is here, to get some answers. Am I correct?"

_I'm sorry for the disrespect, but yes I did come here for answers, and how can you be the souls of weapons?_

Kirel laughed again, "you humans, you come seeking answers yet never cease asking questions." She continued, "it is actually quite easy for us to be the souls of the weapons, I am the spirit of the wings."

"I am the left katana," the second voice announced, "my name is Dogan."

"and I am the right katana," the first voice offered, "my name is Torrind."

Kirel spoke again, "that is who we are, how we came to be what we are is another story for another time. But the more important matter at hand is how we knew your parents and how we can help you. Correct?"

_Right… _Xero replied as best he could think, he still wasn't sure what exactly was going on.

"so then, to start, in order to understand all this, you must understand the background to the great struggle that all life on this planet is currently engaged in: Eons ago, there was a race that we shall call the 'creators', they obviously didn't create the universe so don't get the two mixed up. Now, these creators were searching for the ultimate power, and they were seeking to make it any way possible. They finally succeeded in creating a being of enormous power, Cataclysma; which is a being very much like your own ACs."

"Cataclysma's power even surpassed the expectations, and fears, of the creators." Torrind continued, "And unfortunately, along with the ultimate power, came the ultimate evil, in a way. But, far too late to correct their own folly, Cataclysma escaped, the creators were all too powerless to stop it."

_It acted on its own?_

"yes, yes it did." Torrind answered.

"let me continue," Kyrind cut back in. "the creators could not let Cataclysma run amok unchecked throughout the universe, so they created Cataclysma's counter, Redemption."

"but," Dogan spoke up. "to prevent another 'Cataclysma' the creators made redemption in four parts, each on its own would have no chance against the ultimate powers of Cataclysma, but all together, they could stand at least some chance."

Torrind spoke next, "they built the four pieces as, the body of Redemption and three weapons; the Kyrind wings, and the Shukkerra Katanas."

"Although," Kirel spoke in again, "we were only used against Cataclysma once, when Redemption finally faced the beast on this very planet, the first planet it had ravaged. It took Redemption so very long to track Cataclysma down."

"when Cataclysma had arrived on this planet, it managed to use a corporation for its own uses, I believe it was known as Chrome. The corporation surged and prospered with the help of Cataclysma, and Chrome returned the favor by assisting Cataclysma when the time came for it to face judgment."

"Cataclysma met Redemption on the deserts of this planet with armies at its sides. Cataclysma stood back as Redemption easily swept aside these trifling adversaries. Only when all adversaries were defeated, leaving only Cataclysma, Redemption, and a blood-red sun to paint the battlefield, did Redemption summon us to its aide."

Kirel paused for a second. "The battle between Redemption and Cataclysma was long and hard. And so the Redemption began losing hope as the battle dragged on and on, and due to our abilities we began to lose our strength. Cataclysma was quick to take advantage of this by summoning its own great weapons into the battle; black devilish wings, and a blood red scythe.

After which Cataclysma mocked us and said that the four of us; Redemption, Torrind, Kirel, and Dogan were only as powerful as itself, but not anywhere as powerful as Cataclysma and its_ own_ weapons of great destruction. It then dashed forward with unimaginable speed and attacked the Redemption. Cutting the Redemption's left arm and wings clean off. Now armed only with Torrind, and with Torrind being very weak from feeding on all the despair from such a miserable battle-"

"-Redemption threw me aside!" Torrind interrupted, anger and sorrow filled his voice. "And overboosted straight for Cataclysma. Upon reaching him in full overboost he rammed Cataclysma and forced it back. With its remaining hand, Redemption grabbed the scythe from Cataclysma and spun it up and around then downwards, forcing the blade through the back of Cataclysma and-" Torrind shuttered and took a deep breath. "-and… through Redemption's chest."

Kirel spoke up again. "indeed it did, the large scythe went straight through Cataclysma as expected, but it also ran through the Redemption. After which the Redemption completed its final directive and activated its antimatter generator. The antimatter generator, is a special generator that creates intense amounts of energy and is only used for a single purpose, trans-dimensional transportation. Redemption opened up a dimensional transport hole and surpassed the standard 4th dimension that we used for transporting objects and proceeded to the 6th dimension. It then pulled the Cataclysma in along with it."

"wow." Croaked from Xero's mouth. he tried to absorb all that he had just learned. When he regained himself his head filled with even more questions. _But if the Redemption pulled the Cataclysma in with it then where do my parents fit into all this and how did Cataclysma get out?_

"this story is still far from over, my boy. she paused for a moment, almost as if to remember where she left off. "Cataclysma posessed the same kind of divice, just a smaller version. This smaller version is only capable of opening a hole large enough for a single AC. Whereas Redemption's generator could create a hole large enough for a quarter of a planet to slip through. Anyway, centuries later, Cataclysma managed to escape from its eternal prison and returned to this land; somehow. Here, it befriended the corporation called Mirage. It offered Mirage complete dominance and control over all except itself. In exchange, all Mirage had to do was assist and repair Cataclysma. The way Mirage did this was by giving legions of MTs over for Cataclysma to control. This happened about 26 or 27 years ago.

Now, Cataclysma closely observed that era's best ravens and ACs, and came to the realization that if they all banded together they could pose a serious threat, especially since he no longer possessed his own weapons of great destruction. So Cataclysma started hunting down the ravens individually. There were so many ravens all about and more people kept becoming ravens in the pursuit of riches and adventure that it became clear, hunting them down individually was out of the question. So Cataclysma eventually gave up on hunting them down. Instead he went only for the ones with the most potential for posing a threat. Naturally he went after the most talented and the most powerful ravens. At that time there were two people who were considered the best ravens alive. They were your parents, Xero."

"what? My parents were ravens! My parents were the two top ranked ravens!" He was blown away. He had thought that his parents were drug lords or something like that, and they were murdered for some reason relating to that. But ravens? He now understood his "larger than average" bank account.

"yes, my boy, your parents were very talented in their field of work. In the arena they both climbed to the top very quickly, sometimes facing three of four opponents in one day. Your father especially was known for that. He would defeat one opponent in seconds then stay in the arena as the next opponent moved inside. Your mother was a little more subtle, only taking one to three people a day. But she enjoyed the challenge much more. She had the fastest AC in the arena, and her only weapons were laser-blade arms. She was a fan favorite, the stadiums would always be packed when she had a match. Everyone loved her overboost charges, how she would fly across the arena like a Phoenix and cut the head, arms, and legs off an opponent AC in an instant. Your father, on the other hand, was loved for his constant weapon bombardments. He would fire two linear cannon shots at the same time and have his EOs firing constantly, all the while boosting close up and firing both of his shotguns at the opponent; littering the opponent AC with holes. Your AC most resembles your father's."

after she said this, a small sphere appeared in front of Xero with the image of an AC in it.

"this was your father's AC."

Another orb appeared next to it.

"and this was your mothers."

His father's AC had a heavier set like his own but still had the look and most of the speed of the mid-weights. It had a yellow, double-barrel shotgun in the right hand. A black, quad-Barrel shotgun in the left hand. It also had two light-weight, linear guns on the back, and a mid-weight solid ammo EO core.

His mother's AC had the mid-weight "SPINE" legs, a light-weight, overboost core without missile interception. It had the "WAKE" back boosters, and the laser-blade arms. It did look really fast, Xero admitted to himself that he probably wouldn't have been able to control it himself.

"so, what am I supposed to do with all of this information?" Xero asked just before a huge quake rocked the 'ground' that he stood on.

"It appears that our friend Tyre is being overwhelmed." There was silence for a few moments, followed by another quake. "it appears you are going to have to contemplate these things later. But for now, you must accept your destiny."

"My destiny?"

"yes, you will have to take the weapons and defend yourself against the evil that threatens this planet. When you reemerge from this orb, your AC will be fitted with the weapons of Redemption" Kirel said.

"We will assist you with this battle and show you what the weapons are capable of. The only thing you have to do to repeat any of the actions you will see is imagine them, concentrate and do the action, we can do the rest. These drones will serve as good target practice for you." Dogan added.

"alright, I guess…." Xero replied. Then he was engulfed by darkness and the whistling of the wind.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself back on the snow covered ground of the arctic. Tyre was about fifteen hundred meters away and surrounded by the strange units that had been plaguing his dreams for the past few weeks. In fact, the units were everywhere, hundreds of them.

"Xero! You made it! And you brought them! They chose you!" Tyre was ecstatic about Xero's arrival.

Xero looked down at his hands and instead of his shotguns he saw two shimmering diamond blades as clean and clear as water. Xero looked straight ahead and saw nothing but feathers, or at least what seemed to be feathers, the feathers were also diamond but were not as clear as the blades.

_This is what we are capable of…_ the wings unfolded, flexing outward, and every feather began to glow blue, suddenly the blue erupted into hundreds of blue-white burning tendrils that flew outward in every direction. The tendrils would arc up then come straight down through the bodies and heads of the drones surrounding him. The drones turned to dust and sand as soon as the tendrils touched their bodies. The sand would swirl around the blue energy for a moment before dissipating completely.

The wings folded back behind Revolution and charged up again. But this time, the energy exploded outward in the form of plasma thrust, shooting Xero forward, toward three more drones.

The blades came up and crossed outward once, the sand from the drones flew out in every direction and dissipated as Xero came to a stop again.

Xero turned and looked at the battlefield that he had just decimated. He wondered, "Rev, how many battle capable units were there out here at the beginning of this battle?"

"three hundred, two."

"so there were three hundred drones out here."

"_And we destroyed them all in seconds. That is the power, the gift, which has been given to you. Use it well."_

The voice faded from Xero's head and into memory.

"Xero!" Tyre boosted over to Xero, his AC had numerous holes in it accompanied with smoke and sparks coming out of every joint, but that AC kept moving, Tyre wouldn't let it fall.

"I wonder why they didn't choose him?" Xero said to himself, "look at how strong he is." Xero put that thought into the back of his mind as Tyre stopped in front of him.

"Xero, that was amazing! Holy crap, I thought I was screwed, but when you appeared out of that sphere with those wings and those swords… damn…" He started laughing as he turned away. "Let's get back home and get some sleep." He laughed again as he hit his overboost.

"Sleep… yeah right." Xero looked at the swords and the wings before boosting off as well.


	15. The Nightmare Lived

Chapter 15 The Nightmare Lived

"So, Xero, they did choose you. As I thought they would." Matt pressed his fingertips together and rested his chin on his thumbs as he processed all the information that Xero and Tyre were feeding him.

"Yeah, they said something about how I needed to face my destiny and about how my parents had once used the weapons and how Cataclysma killed them because they were good ravens." Xero's mind dipped back into the memory of the conversation, but only for a second. "So yeah, now I have a pair of diamond katanas and diamond wings on my AC."

Even now, Revolution sat back in the garage being admired and awed at. The swords and wings were almost completely transparent and refracted every light and glimmer that passed by them, they were quite a sight to behold.

"So, what do you plan to do now?" Matt asked as he lifted his head from his fingertips and picked up his coffee.

Xero pondered for a quick second, "I honestly have no idea what to do now… I mean, am I supposed to go after this all-powerful 'Cataclysma' now?"

"That is certainly part of your destiny, wouldn't you say?" Matt put his coffee back on the table.

"Well, I am positive of that, but I don't know how I would go about these things, how would I find it? Would it just come to me?"

The nest was dark, but busy as ever. People sat at other tables, conversing about their missions or arena fights. Some even asked a question or two about the AC down in the garage with the swords and wings; 'whose are those?' 'What are those?' The list went on. People sat at the bar, eating a sandwich or enjoying a hard earned drink, people at the computers, researching new missions or arena opponents. The large room was darker and a little muskier than usual but still held that 'homey' feeling to the ravens that traveled from area to area.

The door opened and Dash came in. he quickly crossed the room to Xero's table and jerkily tossed a slip of paper onto the table in Xero's general direction, then he turned and excited the room, as quickly and quietly before.

Xero sat silent, his mouth hanging open as if to say 'hey' or 'hello' but Dash came and went far to quickly to say anything. Xero closed his mouth and looked at the paper sitting in front of him, he looked up at Matt and over to Tyre before picking it up and opening it.

"They're coordinates…" Xero noted out loud, he looked a little further down the page, "Bring everyone."

"That's all it says…" he noted aloud again. Xero stood.

"where are you going?" Matt inquired as he took another sip of coffee.

"where am I going?" Xero looked surprised, "didn't you see Dash, there is obviously something wrong, I'm going to help."

Xero turned from the table and set off quickly toward the door.

"should I go too?" Tyre asked Matt, who was still drinking the coffee with his eyes closed.

"this may be the chance we need, go with him, help him if you can. His unit isn't ready yet, but I'm sure Cataclysma knows about his attaining the weapons and undoubtedly will do everything in its power to prevent them from being used effectively against itself."

Tyre stood from the table and started toward the door, Matt stopped him, "Keep him alive, don't let all of them fall if you can, but keep him alive. That is your top priority. His friends are not as important as his total mission."

Tyre looked to the floor quickly before looking to Matt, "alright." He turned back toward the door and opened it. Matt heard him holler to Xero as the door swung shut, "Hey, Xero! That note said 'everybody' right?" the door closed.

Matt walked to the bar and placed his cup on the counter before opening the door himself. The door shut behind him, "well, I better get back to work then…"

Two hours later, the open plains were slammed with the roaring sound of overboosts and upgraded boosters. Tyre, Morrow, Blaze, and Angel were each powering their way across the clear plain, desperately trying to budget their energy gauges in order to prevent being left behind by Xero; who was flying five-hundred meters above the ground with the help of the wings.

"Xero, slow up a little bit, your dragging us!" Morrow managed to pant into the comm.

"Every second may count here, we have to get to there as fast as possible, Dash's life may depend on it." Xero flapped the wings again to boost himself forward a little more.

_Your own lives depend on not getting there._ Tyre thought to himself.

Back up in Xero's head, the weapons continued to tell him of how he shouldn't be participating in this mission.

_It's too risky; it must be Cataclysma trying to lure you out to destroy you! You must understand this! _Kirel spoke to Xero's def ears. He refused to listen to anything they had to say.

"I will help my friend. And I don't see how Dash could be associating with Cataclysma. He knows good from evil." Xero assumed his logic was correct and continued on his journey; which was quickly approaching its end.

Minutes later they were at the designated coordinates, the terrain consisted of steep grassy hills, with a few scattered conglomerations of large rock formations. But other than that, the area was plain. The sky was dark; the sun had set about twenty minutes earlier, leaving an eerie dark light to fill the hillsides. Dark clouds gathered overhead, hinting at the approaching struggle with the promise of rain and thunder.

"Xero, there's nothing here, why don't we just head home?" Angel asked behind him, her AC's head darting back and forth as if looking for an invisible enemy. And that was the exact thought that passed through her mind at that moment. The fear of fighting something she couldn't see was what drove her to ask permission to leave.

If only they knew how accurate that fear was.

Lightning struck in the distance and in the split second of cross twilight, hundreds of drones were visible in-between and surrounding the friends.

And one hover AC appeared before Xero as the drones faded from sight. Everyone's weapons rose to ready but Xero held out an arm to stop them.

"I'm glad you could make it Xero. I was expecting you." The orange hover glided towards Xero and circled him once. "I'm so very glad you could make it. I have a friend that would love to meet you…" He glided back in front of Xero and retreated backwards a bit. He stopped as lighting struck again, visible behind Dash was undoubtedly Cataclysma. The drones came into view again and stayed in view this time.

The head, body, arms, and legs all coursed with energy. The chest had what seemed to be a rib cage which visibly surged outward, then back in, it was breathing…. The eyes glowed red; the veins running from the feet up to the spikes that protruded from the top of the core were glowing red. It was completely black, except for the red veins and eyes.

Xero remembered it from his dream, everything flooded back from that dream, the landscape, the drones, his friends, and the stench of death.

Cataclysma stepped forward and unfolded its arms, letting them rest at its sides. The hands were little more than large claws, but the claw was fully articulating.

The weapons began screaming into Xero's head with words such as _RUN!_ and _get away quickly! This is not the time!_

Xero heard none of it; he was def with fear, his brow was drenched with the same cold sweat, and his heart felt as if it had stopped, or did it just beat so quickly that there was no way to tell when it expanded and compressed….

"Xero! We finally meet!" A female voice rang through his cockpit. "I'm happy you made it. We would have been good friends, too bad you had the parents you had, to bad they will pass their fate unto you."

Xero remembered to inhale and gasped, "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?" he screamed out of fear as the wings opened up and erupted with blue-white energy lances. They arced up and down, onto the surrounding drones and Cataclysma. The drones hit with the energy burst into dust and swirled into nothing, the energy that fell to Cataclysma was redirected out in random directions.

"You may have heard of me before, I am called Nydem."

Xero's eyes widened as lightning struck again. The rain began falling, the ACs scattered, all but Xero, who stood frozen in place. The drones sprung into action and Dash boosted out of sight. Xero stood staring at Cataclysma, into those glowing red eyes. A large claw raised above Revolution. It dropped as a sniper shot hit Cataclysma's head, doing little more than get Cataclysma's attention.

"Xero! MOVE!" It was Tyre.

Xero felt his legs move and he took a step back, the wings flapped and he was in the air, he glared down at the monstrosity with the greatest of all ravens piloting it.

He looked to the left, behind him and saw Morrow put up his left arm to block the impaling blade; he lifted the unit off the ground with his arm and fired the KARASAWA directly into the core at point-blank-range. Xero looked a little behind Morrow and saw Angel boosting backwards with two drones chasing her, one came up behind her and stabbed its blade through her head, the two chasing her flew up and stabbed both of their blades through her core, blood tipping the ends as they stuck out of the opposite side.

"ANGEL!" Morrow bellowed as he hit his overboost and sliced the three units in half as he passed. The drones turned to dust and swirled around Angels AC as it fell lifelessly to the ground.

Blaze froze, looking at Angel's AC lying on the ground. Another drone flew up behind her and beheaded her AC; she fell to the ground and stayed there.

"Xero! Behind you!" Tyre shouted.

Xero turned to see Cataclysma hovering in the air in front of him. Two large claws rushed together in a clapping motion. They were held together for a few seconds, when they were pulled apart a white sphere was formed between them. As the claws were pulled further apart, the orb grew larger, until it was about fifteen meters wide. Then Nydem spoke, "This is where I END IT! SON OF MY ENDERS!"

"Son of what?" Xero gasped as the light from the orb exploded outwards and engulfed the entire hillside. Xero saw feathers in front of him shortly before he blacked out.


	16. Memories Revisited

Chapter 16 Memories Revisited

Lightning flashed outside again, lighting up the small room with the small race car bed and the little boy, sitting up in bed with the blankets pulled up to his chin. Lightning struck again, lighting up his face as it shot towards the window. "Mommy…" the little boy let the whine slip from his mouth, barely audible.

Lightning struck again, "Mommy!" He hollered, as he pulled the blankets over his head and shivered.

Minutes past by and his door didn't jar. He heard no rushed footsteps in the hallway as he usually did in a storm such as this. The boy worked up the courage to uncover himself and step from the confines of the bed to find his mother and father.

Taking his best friend teddy with him; he pulled the blanket back down and stepped from the small racecar bed. The cold carpet rubbed his foot as he stepped down, the small night light in the corner of the room giving of just enough light to show the door handle and the drawings on the wall. The drawing he had made of his mother and his father, their house and pets, his parent's Cores.

He took a few cautious steps past the closet and the gas pump dresser, lest he wake the monsters that undoubtedly lived within. He reached the door and pulled it open, whimpering "mommy?" once more as he stepped into the hallway. He looked to his right, down the hallway. He saw the faint outlines of two doors and the catwalk which crossed over the living room downstairs. He turned to his left and entered the bathroom; he stepped onto the cold tile and turned the corner. He reached his hand up and felt for the light switch, he couldn't find it. He stood on his toes and reached again, finding it just out of his reach. He did a quick hop and flicked the switch up and on; the light flooding the bathroom and flowing down the hall.

He preceded down the hall, past the first door, mom's sewing room, and entered the second door; mommy and daddy's room. He stood just inside the doorway, looking into the room toward the large bed. "Mommy, I'm scared, can I sleep with you tonight?" he said softly, hugging his bear tightly, hoping for a positive response.

No response.

"Mommy? Daddy?"

Still no response.

The little boy climbed up onto the tall bed with some effort, he shuffled his hands back and forth, looking for the only ones who could possibly comfort him right now. Lighting struck once again and lit up the bed from the window. The boy saw that his parents were not in the bed; he dropped his head down onto the pillow and sobbed. "Mommy, Daddy, where are you?"

Dropping his bear on the floor he ran from the room. Heading across the catwalk and ran down the first flight of dark stairs, when he reached the landing in the middle of the staircase he looked out the window as lighting struck one last time.

He saw his mother sprawled on her back on the lawn, blood staining the grass. Her eyes wide open and her fists clenched.

The little boy also saw his father to the right of his mother and lying face down on the driveway, blood flowing from the body down to the gutter and down the street; fists clenched as well.

The boy started to let out a bloody scream but the voice never came, his eyes rolled back as he went into shock and succumbed to the fear. He fell to the floor of the landing and blacked out.

"hey, we got a live one in here! Just a kid, maybe eight or ten years old."

"must've been their kid. Wow, he must've seen them through the window and passed out or something like that. Well, we better check for a name and relatives. Its gonna be quite a shock for him when he wakes up."

The little boy was awake already and was listening to the conversation but stayed quiet with his eyes shut. He didn't want to wake up, he didn't want to think of what he saw last night, he didn't want to see it again; but as soon as he thought about it, the sight flashed back into his head and left as quickly as the lightning that illuminated it had. He gave a quick jolt and almost fell from the arms of the man that had just picked him up.

The man looked down at him and knew what was happening. He said softly, "c'mon, its time to wake up…"

"Time to _wake up…"_

_Time to wake up…._

_Time to wake up…._

_Time to wake up…._

"_Time to _wake up…"

"Its time to wake up…." He heard a soft female voice.

"Please wake up… please… it's been too long, we need you Xero…." The voice sounded as if it was about to cry.

He opened his eyes, his vision was blurry; he blinked a few times and about thirty seconds later the blurriness was gone. He looked up at the white ceiling and his eyes followed the ceiling down to the wall. His eyes followed the wall crease over to the window, the sun flowed in from the open shades.

He felt pressure on his right hand and arm; he lifted his head and saw a woman holding his hand and her head resting on his arm, crying.

He could recognize that hair anywhere, "Blaze?" he said weakly.

The head raised but the crying didn't stop, in fact, as soon as she looked at him, with his head above the pillow on its own strength, she sobbed even louder and flung her arms around his neck and latched onto him.

He reached his arms around and returned the hug for a moment before pulling Blaze off of him. He pulled her head back to eye level and asked maybe the single hardest question that he could have asked her, "What happened?"

She laughed, "do you have any idea how long it is going to take to answer that question?"

He didn't laugh, "I don't care, the last thing I remember seeing is a bright light shining through diamond feathers."

"well, if you want to know right now I better call Morrow in here." She pulled out a cell phone and started dialing. She was still whipping tears from her eyes when the other line picked up, "Morrow, this is Blaze, he's awake…"

A fully audible "what?" resounded from the phone, follow by the promise to be there in ten minutes. Blaze put the phone back in her pocket and turned to Xero again, tears still in her eyes.

He looked at her, "what?" asking as if he didn't know what she was looking at.

"Xero, what did you dream of?" she asked, very nonchalant.

"what do you mean, what did I dream of? Isn't that a little bit of a personal question?" he replied.

"Well yes but I have heard that people relive parts of their life when they are asleep for so long. The longer they are asleep, the more they relive."

"asleep for so long?" his interest was peeked.

"Xero, you've been in a coma for just over two years. A lot of things have changed, you'll see soon enough." She twiddled her thumbs a little bit, "but before Morrow gets here to help me explain it to you, I wanted to know what part of your life you relived, if you did at all." She looked at him again, a small smile pricked at the corners of her mouth, but she still had those tears in her eyes.

"I relived the same twenty minutes over and over again. The night my parents were murdered. As soon as I would wake up in the dream, the dream would start over; if you could call it a dream, tsk, more like a nightmare…." His eyes drifted away from Blaze's face as a look of horror came over her. Blaze looked away quickly, realizing the wound that she had just poured salt into.

"Sorry to delve further but I thought you said you were only about two weeks old when that happened?" she asked softly.

"I guess not, I didn't remember anything about the night regardless. So I didn't remember if I was a month old or eight years old. I was told what had happened a few years after it had occurred, so I just thought it would've happened a long time ago." He looked up at Blaze, "It doesn't matter how old I was really."

"I guess not." She said quietly before letting an awkward silence fill the room.

Minutes later Morrow stormed into the room, and the room's attention was drawn to the door with him. "Xero…" He had the biggest smile anyone had seen on him in a long time, "how ya feeling buddy?" he asked, "anything sore or still broken?"

"not that I know of…" Xero sat up in the bed, reaching behind himself to put the pillow up on its side so he could lean back onto it; but before he could rest himself back on the pillow Morrow launched across the room and embraced his lifelong friend in the greatest of bearhugs. Xero attempted to reach his arms across to pat Morrow on the back but Morrow was squeezing the life that he just regained out of him.

Morrow finally let go and backed away from Xero, his face red from lack of air, and sat on the chair Blaze had pulled up for him.

"well Xero, we're both glad that you are back; we have missed you very much, as well as missed your abilities."

"my abilities?"

Morrow continued, "Well, never mind that, we will come back to that later, right now I'm sure you want a run down of what has happened over the past two years, am I right?"

Xero nodded and folded his arms over his chest.

"well, after our encounter with Cataclysma in the plains, it never went back into hiding, it surged forward with Mirage on its back. With the help of Cataclysma, Mirage was able to quite literally destroy all the other corporations and the earth government, one by one. And so mirage is in control of the entire planet basically. After mirage took power, Cataclysma struck out on its own for a while and started hunting down the ravens, and with Mirage in control, there was no way to register new ravens, and so eventually what happened was when Global Cortex was devoured by Mirage, the garages fell into disuse." Mirage paused for a minute and scrunched up his face as if thinking of what to say next. "the remaining ravens were quick to salvage what was left of the underground areas of the garages and close them off from the outside world using some of the old stealth AC tech and such."

Blaze cut in, "this was all Morrow's idea, and he was the one that found and united the ravens. And so he was made their default leader."

"wait," Xero pointed a questioning finger at Morrow, "so you are in charge of all the ravens in the world!"

He nodded. "Seven-hundred Thirty-two ravens in fifteen different, hidden garages." He sighed, "but I'm afraid they won't stay hidden for too much longer."

"why not?"

Blaze answered, "Mirage has started mass producing AC units for all its pilots instead of MTs. They have a standard AC battle unit now, and they have more of them. It is harder to fight a group of battle ACs than it was to fight a group of battle MTs." She looked frightened, as if she had had the experience before. "you remember the old frighteners? That is the same kind of thing that is happening now! Cataclysma roams the planet and wherever it goes, it never leaves without leaving mass destruction in its wake!"

"has anyone tried to fight it yet?"

"a few brave ones have tried," Morrow replied, "but without your weapons to destroy it, the entire planet is all too powerless to stop it." Purposefully not mentioning what happened to the 'brave ones'.

Xero remembered a small detail from the last battle, "wait, it's not exactly an 'it' anymore, is it? It's a 'her', how did Nydem of all people find and come to pilot that thing?"

"that is still a mystery to all of us. But one thing is certain; she does have Dash well on her side. Dash has become her right hand man, the only one she trusts. And rumor has it that the two of them are… well, you know…" Morrow made a hand gesture.

"I get the point Morrow." Xero rolled his eyes. "But what happened to Rev and the weapons?"

"well Xero," Blaze said, "its hard to tell any raven this, and this is especially hard for me to tell you, but… Revolution was destroyed by that last attack by Cataclysma." She put her hand on Xero's. "the wings and swords were found by Tyre a few hundred meters away, and the wings were wrapped around the cockpit sphere, the only remains of Rev, I'm sorry."

Xero tried his best to hide his shock. "What did happen to Tyre?"

Morrow shifted in his seat, "well Xero, this is where your 'abilities' come into play, you see, Tyre found the weapons after the battle and he took them with him."

Xero suddenly became very angry, but before he could say anything Morrow put up a hand, "he did leave a message for you Xero; after he picked out your cockpit; he handed it to me and told me to keep you alive. He also said that he was taking the weapons with him to Matthews's house and that once you wake up you should come and get them back."

"But how am I supposed to use them without an AC! And with Mirage controlling everything AC related!" Xero was very angry again.

Blaze stood, "I'll go get the nurse so we can get some drugs in you to get your legs working again." With that she turned left at the door and headed down the hallway.

"Hey calm down buddy, I can lend you my AC or I'm sure that any raven would be perfectly happy to lend you his or hers. Everyone on this planet knows who you are and all of them were patiently waiting for the day 'the one who wields the great weapons' would wake up…."

"tsk, is that what they call me?" he laughed, "is that seriously the best they could come up with?" Morrow joined in the laughter.


	17. Adrenaline Is Born

Chapter 17 Adrenaline Is Born

Just two hours after Xero woke up he emerged from his hospital room to the cheers of the staff; this was something Xero definitely wasn't used to. Xero tried to move as quickly through the crowd as he could, his left leg hadn't quite woken up yet and he was forced to use crutches. He leaned over to Morrow and motioned for Morrow to lower his head so he could hear Xero. "Morrow, make them stop, please. They shouldn't be cheering for someone who was beaten so badly."

He gave a hearty chuckle "make them stop! Are you mad?" his chuckle turned into a full laugh, "they look at you and see salvation, Xero, you are a hero even if you haven't done anything yet or even if you were beaten. It doesn't matter to them if you got your ass kicked; what matters is that you're not dead." Morrow stood straight again and began clapping himself.

Minutes later Xero, Blaze and Morrow had waded through the hospital staff and emerged from the front doors into the street. There the cheering ended, at the hospital doors. The only ones who recognized him were the hospital staff and the few people that passed, who were smart enough to see the leader of the ravens walking beside a gimping man, who could put two and two together. There was little more adoration than those few people would stop and nod their head in a respectful way or perform some other sort of friendly gesture.

Morrow helped Xero down the steps in front of the hospital as Blaze ran down and opened the car door for them.

In the car; "so Morrow, where are we going?" Xero asked as he messaged his left leg, he could feel it coming back to life.

Morrow looked up into the rear view mirror so he could look at Xero, "where else? We are on our way to see Matt."

"But I don't have an AC." Xero replied with a kind'ove 'duh' attitude.

"we were told to take you to him as soon as you woke up, so I'm not too worried about getting an AC for you yet."

Xero opened his mouth to say something but closed it quickly and sat the rest of the car ride in silence.

Three hours later they were at the front gates of Matt's house. The gates opened automatically upon pulling up to them and Morrow proceeded inside. He didn't stop at the front of the house; instead he pulled all the way around to the garage in the back. Upon looking at the garage, Xero felt a strong surge pulling his mind toward it. _They're in there, I can feel it._

Morrow stopped the car and got out with Blaze exiting at the same time from the opposite side. Morrow immediately turned around to open the door for Xero but he was already out of the car and on his way toward the garage. Morrow watched him walk away and looked into the backseat of the car to see the crutches left behind.

Xero opened the door to the garage, the same one he had before. It was pitch black as always until he took that first step inside; triggering the lights inside to flood the garage.

Xero's eyes opened wider somehow and his jaw dropped. In front of him, stood an AC like he had never seen before; every part had a completely new design to it, "is this-?"

"-a completely custom AC." Matt said from the shoulder of the AC. "Adrenaline here is the fastest most maneuverable AC in existence. And the armour is a special composite engineered by myself." He stepped from the shoulder onto the scaffold platform about ten feet below. "Every sleek curve is specially crafted to provide the least amount of joint resistance and the optimum amount of joint movement, speed, and flexibility." He continued to explain its structure as he walked along the platform towards the lift. "it has no boosters or onboard computer, the wings take care of all that. They have been grafted into the chassis and are an integral part of the design."

He reached the lift and lowered down to the ground level. After which he turned back to Adrenaline, looked over it for a second, then turned back and walked over to Xero. "its good to see you still alive Xero, it has been far too long."

He extended his right hand and Xero took it firmly.

"well, you haven't said anything except 'is this' since you walked in here." Xero turned to look back at Matt, who smiled.

"what can I say, I mean… wow… thank you?"

Matt laughed for a few seconds before looking back at Xero, "I know what you want, go ahead, take her for a ride."

Xero looked at him again, "what? Now?"

"well you don't want to wait for Cataclysma to show up do you?" he turned back toward Adrenaline, "she is the closest thing to Redemption that I could make here."

Xero's look shot straight back to Matt. "how did you know about….?" He blinked a few times, not believing it.

Matt just looked at him, smiled and nodded. "The Katanas are in the weapons rack behind you."

Xero looked behind him to the katanas and then back to Adrenaline, the white and gold colors were pristine and reflected just about everything in the garage. He then turned back to Matt, who was standing there just beaming.

Matt put his hands onto Xero's shoulders, "It's okay, just take her… you have a planet to save."

Xero looked at him one last time and smiled before bolting to the lift.

Blaze leaned over and whispered into Morrow's ear, "I guess his leg is better."

They both laughed as Xero made it to the cockpit hatch, opened it, and jumped in.

Xero jumped down and felt himself become very light.

_Welcome back Xero._

"Kirel?"

_that's right. Were all glad to see you are okay, even though your decision making skills could use some work._

"I'm sorry you guys, but I had to see what was up with Dash and then I-"

_do not dwell in the past, _Kirel said, _now, lets see if we can get this AC moving. _

Xero watched as the entire cockpit lit up bright white before fading down and mirroring the outside world.

_Well Xero, how would you like to try out the control system that Redemption used?_

"what-?"

the cockpit seemed to fill with a soft but powerful wind that swirled around Xero and began lifting him off of his feet. Eventually the wind stopped but Xero was still in the air, "no-way…"

Xero moved his right arm up in front of his face and saw on the screen in front of him; Adrenaline's arm move to match.

"yes-way…" Xero stepped forward and reached forward to grab the katanas, he got a few meters from the hilts and the blades flew out of the clips right into his hands. In the cockpit Xero could feel the hilts in his hands.

Xero stood there admiring it all when light flooded in from his right. He looked over to see the garage doors opening. He turned in the direction and walked from the garage, seeing the familiar training grounds in the distance.

He stepped into the light and the sun gleamed off Adrenaline's surface, the wings spread themselves and charged up. Seconds later there was a soft hum as the wings flapped once and launched Adrenaline into the sky.


	18. Dash's True Colors

Chapter 18 Dash's True Colors

Morrow and Blaze drove home as Xero flew above them.

"So Morrow, how have you been doing with your leadership abilities?" Xero asked from above as the wings flapped again.

"Well, I'm not the best leader in the world but since I started it we have only had a few deserters."

"That's no good." Xero paused and thought for a second. "Well, I mean it's great that you have been holding things together so well, but having any number of deserters is a bad thing."

"I agree but we haven't had any problems in quite a while and they are all pretty loyal. But I am anxious to pass the reigns on to you Xero." Morrow pulled into the opposite lane to pass another car.

"Whoa whoa whoa, what do you mean, 'pass the reigns'? I don't want to lead the rest of the ravens on the planet!"

"Xero, they would trust you a lot more than they trust me." Morrow pulled back into his own lane.

"I doubt that, if they've shown that they are loyal already then there is no need to switch leaders now. I'm not gonna do it, sorry."

"Damnit Xero, you've always been a pain in my ass."

Xero laughed.

About twenty minutes later Morrow got a call.

"Xero, you need to get back to Trene city right now!"

"what? Why!"

"'Cause Dash is there, he's waiting for you with more drones. Just go ahead, I'll get there and help when I can!"

"alright."

_Xero be careful! _The wings warned.

"don't worry about it, I don't think it's Cataclysma this time."

_And how would you know that?_

"just call it a gut instinct…." Xero replied as he propelled himself off into the horizon….

"Dash!" Xero hollered as the fortress of a building came into full view, as well as a small garrison of drones lead by a large, strange-looking orange and silver AC.

The entire force turned to face Xero as he landed softly a few hundred meters away from the lead AC.

The colors matched, but the AC was completely different; regardless, Xero was positive that it was Dash.

"So Xero, you've awakened." The voice came through with a metallic tone to it.

"Well, I thought you would've known already."

"She may have known, but she doesn't share _everything_ she knows with me." The metallic tone raised as he raised his voice.

A few seconds pause….

"What happened to you Dash?"

"What happened to me?" he started laughing, "I embraced my destiny!" the laughing stopped abruptly, "It was supposed to be ME in your shoes!"

_What! Xero, only a three people on this planet were to know of this whole ordeal before it erupted, he was not one of them!_

Sand began gathering in the open palms of the AC, "I was supposed to receive the weapons!" the sand formed into two large pikes as the AC launched forward toward Xero. The drones also scattered in their own directions.

Dash swung a giant pike down toward Xero, who cross-blocked the attack; Then boosted backwards as the wings shot out energy beams in various directions, the beams hitting multiple drones, scattering them into clouds of sand.

"I came here shortly after Matthew arrived and began searching for the weapons! I knew they were here, I helped design them!" Xero swung one blade upward horizontally and the other down to his side to block both incoming pikes.

"I wanted to help stop the plague that we set loose! But after you met Matthew, I knew it was too late for me." Xero boosted backwards again and flipped both blades downwards in his hands and stabbed them behind him; running through two more drones.

The wings came down in front of Xero to block the pike being stabbed at him. "I would've been sentenced to death anyway for coming here!" Dash launched himself into the air and brought both of the pikes above his head. "So I decided to go to the greater power so that I might survive!" He thrust the pikes downward as he fell.

"And you think that is your destiny!" Xero swung one blade outward horizontally, cutting one pike in half, the other pike scrapped against the left side of Adrenaline's core before driving down into the ground. Dash landed with his knees on Adrenaline's core. Forcing Xero onto his back with Dash kneeling on Adrenaline's core.

"You disagree?" Sand began gathering in Dash's left hand again, the pike having burst back into its original form when it was cut in half. A massive hatchet was left in Dash's hand.

"Yes I disagree; people don't get to choose their own destiny! It comes to them!" The wings pushed backward rapidly, throwing both of the ACs into the air.

The hatchet came down as a katana came up, the katana won.

The hatchet burst into sand as the second katana flew horizontally towards Dash's core, cutting the other pike in half on its way.

The swing was well placed and the katana dug deep into the side of Dash's core. Xero then pulled himself up by the sword, onto Dash's core. The wings came up and thrust the two of them back down into the ground.

Dash's AC was stuck in the ground with the katana in its right side and the tip of the other katana an inch from the head of the AC. The wings pointed themselves outwards and blasted off more beams; destroying the rest of the drones.

"Is this part of your damned destiny Dash?" Xero screamed into the comm.

"What are you going to do Xero? Kill me? You just rushed to help me two years ago. Look where that got you!" he laughed, "your not going to kill me, you couldn't kill one of your 'dear'' friends." He laughed harder.

"That's where you're wrong…" Xero stabbed the blade down through the AC's head, he then pulled out the blade from the side of Dash's core and angled it down.

"Very good Xero!" Dash hit his own boosters as the katana was stabbed downward.

The katana dug into the ground.

"Damn you Dash!" Xero stood, ready for more.

"That is very good Xero, now, I would say come get me, but you have bigger problems now that Mirage knows where this garage is. Who would've guessed that the ravens never actually left the old garages! That is quite an impressive move." He laughed and launched into the air before turning away and flying into the horizon.

A small window appeared in the lower-left of Xero's screen, "Only when you're ready…" a set of coordinates followed.

"Xero, we've got a problem," Morrow radioed in from inside the garage, "radar just lit up, we've got multiple bogies inbound." He stopped and talked to another voice behind him, "they're coming in from the south, I think the first wave is gonna be aircraft, and then the ACs will start coming." He turned away again. "Xero, there's more, the other garages are reporting the same thing! What are we gonna do?" He sounded rather hopeless.

Xero made a very quick decision; he glanced down to the small information window in the corner of his screen, blinked once, and then looked back to the horizon where Mirage was coming. "Morrow, tell all the ravens to get suited up and head for these coordinates, full-burn. Tell them not to bother with Mirage's forces." He sent the info to Morrow.

"A-all of them?" Morrow shuddered, fearing what was about to happen.

"Yes, all of them, we need to end this." He turned Adrenaline toward the marked destination, "and Morrow,"

"Yeah Xero?"

"Tell them to bring a blade, they won't have enough ammo for what we are about to face…"


	19. Defending Exodus

Chapter 19 Defend Exodus

Xero turned from the horizon that Dash had just disappeared behind and walked back to the garage. He brought up the comm as the large bunker doors opened up to admit him, "Morrow, what is our best ETA for Mirage's arrival?" Xero looked inside the garage to see an anthill of movement, people moving every-which-way, ACs powering up and prepping for combat; mechanics running back and forth, loading ammo and quickly replacing armour plates.

A few seconds pause before an answer arrived, "our best estimate is at around three hours, not very long, we need at least three or four hours to get everyone out of the garage." Xero could hear lots of movement and commotion behind Morrow as he had already issued the order for all Ravens to prepare themselves for the upcoming conflict.

"Morrow, which garage will be hit first?" Xero questioned Morrow, trying to come up with a way to stall the enemy's advance.

"It looks like this one is going to be hit first. I think Dash must've beamed off the info on this garage first, and it probably didn't take long for Mirage to assume it a good idea to check the rest of the garages." The reply was a bit garbled by the noise around him but Morrow's message was clear.

Xero had but one viable option if he wanted to get as many ravens to the designated area as possible, "Morrow, I'm gonna go out and meet up with Mirage's front line and try to stall them, make sure that you get everyone to where they need to be."

"But Xero, that's suicide! We have no idea how many units Mirage will be sending in first, and there are bound to be reinforcements after the first couple waves."

"yeah, yeah, I know. but I can hold them for about thirty minutes before they would overwhelm me. So try to do what you can in that time. Every minute counts here, so do what you can with the time you get."

"Damnit Xero…" Morrow faded from the comm.

Three hours, ten minutes later…

"I have the last few heavy transports loaded and prepped for takeoff, we just have to get the last few people onboard and we'll be off. We all know Mirage won't hold their fire just because it's only mechanics in here." Morrow gave his last thoughts as Xero switched off the comm and turned toward the approaching storm.

"Give me your worst; I've been through too much to fall to your pathetic forces." Xero looked off to the first wave of aerospace fighters approaching over the horizon. "Morrow, its time, they're here. I'm going out. I'll see you at the rendezvous."

"Good luck Xero." Morrow switched off the comm as the last of the transport planes started taxiing out of the garage.

Xero began moving towards the incoming units and pulled the Katanas from their magnetic holsters on Adrenaline's upper thigh.

_Okay, the aerospace fighters and helos will come first, then the mass produced ACs will start moving forward. How am I going to do this…? This won't be a simple, rush and blast battle. _

"I can handle the aircraft." Kirel interjected into Xero's thoughts.

_I know you can, but if we take them out piece by piece then they will know I'm here and they'll coordinate their attacks accordingly. So far, they think they will be facing a large force of Ravens in their ACs. I need to attack in such a way to force them to stay together so that I will be able to battle them. I can't let any of them through, and their current attack plan I'm sure is to attack in a spread pattern…_

Xero had a thought…

He brought up the comm again, "Morrow, you still in the garage?"

"yeah, I'm still here, we're still loading up. I'm trying to get them going as fast as I can!" he was obviously rushed.

"Morrow, I need to know, are their any defensive cannons on the garage?"

"defensive cannons? No their aren't, we didn't want to let Mirage figure out that we were still in the garage. It would have been a dead giveaway if one of Mirage's satellites passed overhead to see a bunch of new cannons fitted to the garage."

"yeah, I guess that makes sense. But I still need a way to get the enemy ACs to bunch together."

"what if we both fired on both sides of the group? Then after I fire a few good shots I could buzz back here really quick and help them evac the rest of the garage."

"I think that may work, but it would be pretty hard for me to get them all to stay together after the big battle begins."

"well, I hate to say it Xero but that is all I can do for you at this point. Keeping them together is going to be your problem after that, sorry."

"its all right, I understand. Well, you better get your ass over here so you can help me with that, I've got an idea to get rid of the aircraft and not give away our numbers."

_Err… number. _Xero laughed a bit to himself.

"Xero, how do you plan on taking out the aircraft?" Kirel inquired.

_well, I need to make it look like they are being fired on by multiple units. So what I have to do is attack from long range by boosting to one area, firing a few shots; then boosting to another area and firing off some more shots and so on until they are gone. The real trick is taking out the main force._

"And how is keeping the main force in a clustered group to your advantage? Wouldn't you need them spread out to avoid being surrounded?"

_well, normally yes, but keeping them clustered is the only choice I have and being surrounded may work to my advantage in the end. If I spread them out then there is a chance that a few units could get past me before I could get to them and then they would be free to ambush the convoy. _

Xero struck another idea.

_Kirel, I am going to need your help with this one. I'm gonna have to circle the main force… or even better, I can get them from above! Once the air cover is gone, I can just hover above them and rain down hell…_

"Very clever but it wont take them long to realize what you are doing and adjust."

_I'll just have to keep them confused by dropping down every now and then to take out a few at close range. Gotta give the Katanas a work-out too don't I?_

Torrind and Dogan agreed.

"Alright then. Morrow, where are you?"

"I'm two minutes behind you. I'll be there in time… just do what you have to do until I get there."

"Well, hurry it up! I'm going in!"

Xero flapped the wings twice and soared horizontally with the wave if incoming fighters. The dust swirled as he side-landed and skid for just over twelve meters. As soon as he had regained his balance, he charged up the feathers and fired of around two-dozen blue-white tendrils into the air. The beams swirled and twisted through the air on seemingly random courses but Xero knew they would land according to each mark set for them. They did land, and twenty-two fireballs erupted in the dusk-orange sky. But before they had even impacted, Xero was already on to the next point, readying to fire another volley, slightly larger then the last. He carried on for just over two minutes.

Morrow watched as Xero swept the last of the air support for the incoming force before stepping forward and taking one knee. Xero landed some meters behind him.

"about time you made it over here Morrow."

"sorry, despite the upgrades I'm still not that fast. Anyway, how about I take the right flank and you can take the left. Then I gotta get back to that damn convoy."

"yeah I'm sorry to hear about that. Anyway, try to get the few on the end then move your way inward. I can take out the bulk of their forces, I just need you to help me with the initial corraling." Xero smiled to himself at the thought of seeing all the ACs huddling in a little circle.

Morrow smiled too as his modified linear cannon began charging; the large red beam waiting to rip forward into anything in its path.

_Kirel, are their any other projectile weapons that you can create?_

"there is one but I haven't ever used it. I… never got the chance to."

_Well, can you do it?_

"I'm sure I could but I don't know if this is the best time to test it out…"

_understandable… well then, just be ready to fire off as many beams as you can._

With that, the wings unfurled themselves and spread out above Adrenalin's head; the tips of every feather glowing crimson.

_Red beams? That's new._

"you'll see…" Kirel assured him.

"alright Morrow, you done charging?"

"yep. I'm good to go, targeted and all." He zoomed his camera in to get a good look at what his best friend was about to face head on. "Good God Xero, have you looked at that?"

"I've been trying to avoid doing so but yes. Not to pretty huh?"

"Xero, your suicidal. That's all I have to say." He started laughing hysterically. "well, lets get this thing done!"

"I'm with you… ready…"

_Kirel, you ready?_

"I'm prepared."

_Good to hear…_

Morrow fired first, the constant crimson beam arrowed an AC on the outermost edge of the group, causing it to burst into orange and red pieces. The beam did not stop however, Morrow instead began to _sweep_ with the beam, roving it inward towards the center of the group. Each suit touched by the fluorescent beam instantly detonating.

Kirel's wings fired shortly afterwards and to Xero's surprise, _thousands _of small bright red beams shot forth and began showering the opposite edge of the group. The small energy tentacles shot straight through robotic arms, legs, chests and heads, then circled around and would pierce through some other portion of any other machine that was unlucky enough to be targeted. Altogether there were on average about one-hundred beams slicing through each suit.

What happened next surprised Xero even more, the beams glowed more brilliantly then ever; caused the area around it to burn, melt and explode. Or they solidified and forcefully wrenched the mechs apart.

Morrow's beam faded, "Morrow, go… get out of here!" Xero commanded.

Morrow wasted no time, immediately he got back to his feet and turned, hitting his overboost at the same time, flashing off into the distance.

It didn't take a lifetime for the mobile force to gather what remains they had for a counteroffensive. But it was long enough.

Xero was already directly above the center of the tight group that had formed from the previous assault. The wings swept downwards, causing Adrenaline to fly further upwards. When the wings reached their vertical peak they fired off another dance of red beams, destroying yet more enemy AC's. after the beams vanished, Adrenaline began to free-fall.

He landed among them….

Xero landed in the center of the group. The nearest mech merely meters from him. There was an eerie, surprised pause, nothing happened, no-one breathed. They merely passed their eyes on the one mech that they were taught to fear for the past two years, the AC that they were long told they would never see: the very same AC that stood a mere five meters from some of them.

Blades blazed, diamonds sparkled, muzzles flashed, wings swept, voices were silenced.

The entire battle couldn't have lasted a minute.

Xero stood in the midst of a wide arch of wreckage. AC parts and pieces were scattered all about him. One arm, severed at the shoulder, lay upon the ground; its length outstretched towards the heavens and its mechanical hand eerily reaching for the freedom it would never grasp.

There was nothing left in the area. The transports were out of sight and well on their way to the mountains where they were to rendezvous with the rest of the ravens and the rest of those that still wished for a planet without Cataclysma's oppressive grip.

The comm crackled a little bit before a voice came in, "Xero, are you still there? Xero? Can you hear me?"

"I copy Morrow. Any news?"

"we're all safe Xero thanks to you, and I am getting reports of other evacuations taking place, the rest of the garages have been successfully evacuated with minimal losses. Looks like ours was indeed the first to be targeted and the worst hit. It appears that only scout troops were sent to other garages to investigate. So other enemy forces were small."

"Good to hear. Finish organizing everything and make sure everyone makes it to the right place. I'll be seeing you there…" Xero cut the line.

The wings wrapped around Adrenaline and glowed a brilliant white before causing the whole mech to disappear completely.

The exodus was complete.


	20. Clash

Chapter 20 The Great Battle

The wind churned ever-so-slightly, causing three or four nearby birds to stir. Light flashed and Adrenaline was there, gleaming in the brilliant sunlight. The wings unfurled and washed away the ashes from the battle that took place moments before.

The radar showed nothing for a few long moments as Xero stared off into the distance, the many streams flowing down from all around him reflected the light and caused the outstretched wings to glimmer and shine proudly.

Xero at last determined that there was nothing in the area to worry about and that it would be foolish to go looking for trouble before the rest of the ravens arrived.

He decided instead to disengage the controls and gather down at the bottom of the spherical cockpit, somberly drifting into an uneasy sleep.

His dreams still haunted him.

He floated above the last battlefield he saw before he slipped into a coma.

The green grass was slicked by the rain that had started falling and there stood all of his friends, and at the head of the group was himself; standing off with Dash, who stood stalk still. Lightning flashed and drones came into existence, surrounding the group and causing everyone to jump into action. Everyone jolted off in different directions, evading the drones barrage of blades, he heard screams, saw Angel die, saw Blaze's AC get beheaded.

He saw Cataclysma smash its way into being, appearing in a split instant right there, causing Xero to halt his steps.

Xero's dream flashed and he found himself in his parents house, looking at himself look out of the window. Seeing his younger self see his parents sprawled outside in the yard and on the driveway. Lightning flashed again.

Xero's eyes shot open. He was breathing rapidly and a cold sweat had broken out on his forehead. The radar was beeping angrily. He wiped the sweat clean and stood, checking his sensor readouts and radar. The transports had arrived. They were right in front of him, passing over the azure horizon.

Xero opened his top cockpit hatch and quickly pulled himself out and onto Adrenaline's core, the crisp clean mountain air assaulted his senses, instantly making him forget his dreams for the time-being and causing him to feel more rejuvenated than anything. He smiled as he looked on to the large jets blasting their way through the sky, their sub-nuclear engines working hard to keep them in the air.

Hours later all the jets had disgorged their occupants and were off once more into the now crimson sunset.

All weapons were primed and ready; the mechs were prepped and outfitted with, in their owner's opinion, the best load outs possible, and all the people were prepared to do what was needed.

They marched, not wanting to burn any extra energy; everyone trying to hold all available resources for the coming conflict.

The coordinates provided to Xero during his last encounter with Dash were investigated and did indeed turn out to be the same ancient battlefield that Retribution had met Cataclysma on. The irony caused Xero to grin a little.

As the sun crept over the horizon and shown through the crutch of two mountains; they arrived at the edge of the large plain; it was a grassy field that spanned for almost as far as the eye could see. It was completely surrounded by mountains, almost as if God Himself had carved this place out of the hills and mountains for the purpose it now held.

The mountains parted on either side of the great expanse and gave way to small ripples in the hillsides, almost like rocky levees trying to hold back the encroaching mountains. Or perhaps wrinkles from whence the mountains had attempted to smash the field into a smaller shape. The large force of ACs gathered on the top of the first levee and held their ground.

The tension ran almost tenably high.

_We know what to do… _Kirel said suddenly after a few moments of silence. The wings unfurled and bent upwards and back stretching as far behind Xero as they would go. The gathering morning sunlight refracted in the wings and the strange angle caused the light to turn to a bright orange and red sunburst, flashing light off in every direction. This was obviously a sign that they had arrived and only lasted for a few moments, but Xero was sure the message was caught.

There was movement seen on the opposite shore.

A vast army of mass-production ACs and Drones gathered atop the opposite hillside.

The wings gathered back down around Adrenaline. The communication channels opened across the allied AC forces.

Xero spoke, "look ahead of you, all of you, what do you see? An army? Simply death? I'm sure every one here sees something different, lost loved ones, vengeance, many will go hand-in-hand I'm sure. But I will tell you what I see; the final steps to a world's freedom, that army, along with its commander, are the last things standing in our way! Lives have been sacrificed, friends lost…"

Xero's mind flashed back to images of Angel, yelling at him, sleeping in his truck, and finally dying in the battlefield. He also saw images of Dash who had seemed for a time to be his friend. "…I will tell you they will not be the last! There will be more, there must be more! The enemy will not simply lay down their weapons and surrender! We must make them! They stand tall… but we stand taller still! They are mindless and do only what they are instructed, they have no purpose! No cause!"

Xero paused, "We have that cause, and that is what makes us stronger! While many of us will fall in this battle, many will stand and it is both the task and burden of the living to decide how much meaning the blood of the fallen has had. The standing must fight on and never surrender; there will be no mercy on their part, so we must offer none on ours!"

Xero inhaled and rested for a moment before continuing, "now is the time to go… to show them our light, our strength. It was an Honor to fight alongside each and every one of you and I commend you for your courage to fight for this world..."

"Godspeed…."

There were clicks as the Communications were cut one-by-one. And a deafening roar began mounting as cannons were powered up and overboosters were charged.

The drone army began moving forward at great speed.

It had begun.

All at once the deafening roar that was building was unleashed as overboosters were released and cannons were fired. Beams of all colors and sizes literally raced the ACs that had ignited their overboosters, the racing ACs had laser-blades charged and were ready for the first swing upon reaching the enemy.

Then it happened.

The forces collided with a tripling of the roar that was heard before. Blades were swung from both sides; beams and slugs collided with their targets: ripping them apart.

Xero stood back on the hillside, Morrow on his left side, Blaze and Tyre on his right. "I'm going in, you guys cover me as best you can but don't worry too much about it. And try to stay alive and in one piece, I'll need your help when the final time comes."

He didn't get any verbal responses, he merely saw each of their ACs give a reassuring nod and they boosted towards the carnage that was taking place before them.

Xero took to the sky and soared above the battle, searching for a place where he was needed. It didn't take long to find a weak spot where the Ravens were being overwhelmed, Xero dove for the ground.

He landed with both blades extended and wings up, Kirel was firing off feather beams at random and Xero was swinging the Katanas with a deft skill that he never knew he had.

He swung the left katana upward with a slope and dismembered a drone from the center of the core all the way upwards to the collar area, at the same time he flipped the right katana over in his hand and thrust it backwards behind him. Stabbing a Mirage AC in the head and consequently ripping its head free as he pulled the katana upwards over his own head, the AC's head unit still lodged halfway on the shimmering blade.

He looked to his left and swung the right katana horizontally, cutting another AC in half across the core after throwing the head off blade, causing it to fly across the field and pass straight through three lined up drones, all three of them bursting into dust.

The feathers extended on the wings and sharpened as Kirel thrust them through an AC and a drone to Xero's left and right. The wings then swept upward and began an intricate blade dance around Adrenaline, cutting units apart and simply stabbing others beyond recognition.

Xero however could feel that it was quickly becoming a losing battle.

_Don't lose heart Xero, you mustn't! we won't lose!_ Kirel, Dogan, and Torrind said to him together.

"fall…back… I will handle the rest…" Xero caught himself speaking without meaning to.

But the damage was done, he looked around him and saw his allies disengaging and moving back toward the safety of the levees that they came from. They dug themselves in and a few still took sniper shots and enemy units.

Xero was now alone, surrounded by numerous enemies that closed in on him, creating a tight ring.

_Never fear…_ Kirel spoke soft words into his ears…

The wings swept upwards again and the tips turned to point straight downward, the feathers now pointed at the ground. The wings began glowing with energy and the katanas resonated, Torrind glowing bright red and Dogan, the most brilliant blue. The wings suddenly pointed upwards to a vertex and the feathers shot off the energy they were hiding, the beams collided not far above the tips and caused a small sphere of pure energy. The energy ball held for a slight moment before bursting downward and encasing Adrenaline in a hemispherical energy dome that shone brilliantly white.

All sound stopped, all light was changed, everything in and around the dome shone bright white, except for the blades of the katanas…

_Sweep us pass the shield…_ the katanas spoke at last, their powerful words seeming to echo in eternity.

Xero looked at each blade and raised it, Torrind…. Dogan….

He swept them upward and the light from both blades burst forth into the shield. A colossal roar ensued as light patterns switched. All the white became black, and time stopped. The dome appeared black from the outside and white from the inside. It seemed to attract all light and draw in everything around it.

The Hemisphere of energy began growing; moving steadily outward in every direction, everything touched by it was vaporized instantly.

After all enemies were gone the energy shield shimmered and dissipated, glittering in the sunlight.

There was nothing left of the battle field, no grass, no haunting remnants, nothing…

The battle was not long, but was still as vicious as any mankind had faced.

In the center of the field stood Adrenaline; unscathed.

On the levee far behind him, stood Cataclysma.


	21. Cataclysma

Chapter 21 Independent

Xero looked around at the carnage that had ceased in an instant and thought that there might be more cheering and such celebrations at a battle gone awry. But as the silence that followed was plenty welcome from Xero, who had had enough cheering in the past few days, it caused him to stop in his movement and check his rear views.

There was Cataclysma. Ominous, the way it stood on the hillside, almost as if it had already won. It stood tall with arms crossed and head high, looking down on the clear battlefield.

Dash stepped up the hillside to stand just behind and to the right of Cataclysma. He dared not stand even with it at a time like this, that would seem too much like he was trying to steal its glory.

It happened so fast, no one had time to breath. The only thing that saved Xero was the fact that the wings acted half of their own will. Kirel had saved him. The wings were cross-folded down in front of Adrenaline's core taking the full brunt of Cataclysma's punch, energy emitting from the wings kept the sharp spikes of the fist at bay. But it was a struggling battle.

Xero blinked and saw Cataclysma meters from him, he inhaled and leapt backwards. Taking the pressure off the wings; and just as the leeway was given, Cataclysma's punch swept upwards where Adrenaline's head used to be.

Xero stood a couple meters back and kept his distance, waiting for Cataclysma's next attack.

But it didn't come…

Xero instead heard Dash's voice, "Nydem, this isn't necessary! You need to stop!"

Dash was rushing over towards Cataclysma when it turned and its hand came up, palm up, fist open wide. Dash stopped. Nydem spoke, "I made you what you are…"

Nydem spoke in an unpleasantly calm tone. Either she was sure she had already won, or as if she wasn't the one talking.

"…I told you not to interfere with my affairs! Didn't I tell you!" Cataclysma's fist clenched a little closer and Dash's AC went riggid.

"I will undo you…" Cataclysma's hand started closing steadily, its grip on Dash's AC tightening. The AC itself was almost lifted off the ground as it was being tortured by Cataclysma's unseen power.

Dash screamed, diamonds flashed and Xero dug both blades into Cataclysma's side, underneath the raised arm. They were two full meters into the chest area of Cataclysma but it showed no signs of weakness as its hand dropped, releasing Dash, and whipped around to meet Adrenaline hard in the core. Throwing him backwards and making him land on his back. The katanas wretched from Xero's grasp, they remained embedded in Cataclysma's side.

Dash's AC fell to the ground and remained motionless. Cataclysma turned to Xero, "you would save the one who betrayed you! What is this weakness!" it was obviously confused, it turned its head back and forth between Dash's ruined AC and Adrenaline, which was still lying on its back. Nydem's voice came over the comm this time, though outlined with a metallic tone, "no, that's right, I remember now. This weakness, I have seen it before… It was your makers Xero, the ones that brought the weapons to bear against me the last time. When I killed them, they made to resist, and the male tried to die in the stead of the female." The metallic tone laughed, drowning Nydem's voice out of the equation, "He dove in front of the energy that was fired at the female, too bad she died anyway." Cataclysma laughed shortly before beckoning a deadly slow speech, "this weakness… I could do without it…" Cataclysma stood straight and the ribs that shown across its chest withdrew with a sickening crack and a flesh splitting sound accompanied an oval shaped hole opening in the center of the chest. Black light flowed from the wound and a figure could be seen exiting from the hole. Nude and folded in the fetal position, Nydem was forcefully expelled from Cataclysma's heart.

She was thrown from the wound and flew through the air, Xero watched helplessly, not daring to turn his back to Cataclysma to save her. However, Dash's AC flew from its resting place and with the last of his strength, he managed to catch her in outstretched hands and land softly a distance behind Xero.

As quickly as this happened, Cataclysma was closed again and wasted no time in going for Xero's throat.

Cataclysma's grip caught around Adrenaline's neck. Sparks flew from the joints, Xero was being choked inside Adrenaline's cockpit. His vision blurred as he moved his eyes to the katanas jutting from Cataclysma's side.

Using the last few sinews of his strength, Xero reached forward with his left hand and just reached the handle of the closest blade.

He twisted it inside of Cataclysma, causing it to finally drop him. During his fall, Xero focused his eyes quickly and reached over with the right hand as well, gripping the remaining katana.

His feet hit he ground and he instantaneously pivoted to the left, bringing Adrenaline's right knee to the ground. Both blades were ripped from Cataclysma's side.

The wings then came forward and forced themselves between Adrenaline and Cataclysma. The feathers glowed blue and angled themselves at Cataclysma's chest before exploding with energy. Cataclysma was forced backwards and skidded on its feet a few meters backwards before catching its footing and balancing itself.

It brought its gaze up to meet Xero's and vanished, reappearing a split second later directly behind Adrenaline.

"not again you monster!" Xero was ready for it this time. As soon as Cataclysma lifted its head Xero flipped both katanas around in his hands so they pointed behind Adrenaline and as soon as it appeared, Xero thrust them both backward.

Cataclysma, however, was also prepared and caught both blades in its mechanical claws, the claws caught them hard and bright red liquid flowed from the claws around the edges of the blades.

Xero noticed this… "This should work nicely..." He pulled the swords forward again with all his strength and ripped them from Cataclysma's grasp, causing neon-blood to splash onto the ground at Adrenaline's feet.

Cataclysma disappeared again and transported itself to the top of the embankment that it had first appeared. "You cannot defeat me, with or without my weapons or Nydem, you will still fall short!" And with that it jumped backward and disappeared from view.

"If I cant win, then why are you running?" Xero turned back towards the forces he had beckoned to his side days ago. "I must ask you all to stay here, I will finish this. Enough blood has been spilled today. You will not be able to help, I thank you for coming and the people of this world will always owe you a debt of gratitude, but this is something that I must do on my own." And with that, not waiting for a reply, Xero turned back towards where Cataclysma had jumped down into a void and flapped the great wings attached to Adrenaline's back.

Silence greeted his departure as he landed on the opposite shore and plunged himself into the pit.

Dash had managed to stand and had given Nydem to a fellow raven before boosting off to follow Xero down the hole.

Tyre, Blaze, and Morrow exchanged glances before following Dash's lead.

None more stirred, but simply held their ground and waited for the return of their leaders.


	22. Nightmare's End

Chapter 22: Nightmare's End

The tunnel fell to a great depth before reaching solid terra firma again. Xero looked up and scanned the area surrounding Adrenaline. He was in a long dark corridor; piping and vents ran the full length of the tunnel, intertwining and jutting from the walls and ceiling. There was no end to speak of. The wings glowed with energy and propelled Adrenaline down the hall.

The hall emptied out into a large rectangular room with the same pipes and vents gripping the walls and high ceiling.

There was a flash of red and a clawed fist flew from the darkness, the controlling entity flying close behind. Xero brought up his left katana to parry the blow and pushed the fist to his outside and at the same moment stabbed the right katana forward but the blade was also pushed away by Cataclysma's own hand. The wings flapped and Adrenaline took to the air, there was limited flight space but was high enough to get Adrenaline's feet away from Cataclysma's sweeping leg.

Cataclysma spun and planted the leg once more into the ground next to the other before springing upwards towards Xero. Cataclysma clenched both fists together and swung them downwards together like a hammer as it came to Xero's height. Xero brought up both blades in an X block and stopped the hammer-fist but the force of the blow still pushed Adrenaline back onto solid ground.

"I will destroy you here and now!" Cataclysma's mechanical voice rang through Xero's cockpit, coupled with the intense ringing that followed one of Cataclysma's hits making it through Xero's guard.

He couldn't keep up. Cataclysma was moving too fast. "Damnit, bare fists are a lot faster than weapons…" Xero thought to himself as he barely managed to dodge another of Cataclysma's kicks.

Cataclysma's eyes suddenly glowed a deep red and sparked as energy flowed through its chest out to its fingertips. It clenched both fists and pointed them at Xero. "Finished…" was all that Cataclysma said as its fists laughed with power.

Xero took the split second and flapped the wings once to launch himself, then pulled his legs up to his chin and brought the wings down and wrapped them around Adrenaline. Xero flew over Cataclysma's head as it released the energy in its fists like a shotgun, the heat gauge spiked but was brought back down quickly, the wings were scorched but returned to their shimmery white just as quickly. Xero landed behind Cataclysma and used the second it took to turn to bring the wings back down to defend from another shotgun blast.

"Xero! Jump!" It was Morrow, Xero peeked under Cataclysma's arms to see Morrow kneeling a few hundred yards behind Cataclysma charging his advanced blast cannon. Xero took the hint and leaped upwards just as the cannon discharged.

"you bitch! You better learn to check your surroundings!" Xero yelled at Cataclysma as it turned to see the enormous red energy wall charging meters from its face.

But suddenly the wall stopped, Cataclysma had drawn up a barrier and was stopping the blast a mere two meters away. Cataclysma however was obviously putting a great deal of effort into this shield, it was standing with straggled footing and had both hands up in front pushing the barrier back.

As soon as the blast was over Dash flew up from absolutely no where in front of Cataclysma and while in midair he pushed both of his arms straight outwards and opened his fists. The walls and pipes around his hands seemed to turn to liquid and poured into his hands, forming two more identical battleaxes, the same that he had done when fighting Xero. The blades formed as he started falling back towards Cataclysma, he raised one above his head and held one horizontally outwards. He brought both of the axes together as he leveled with Cataclysma.

Cataclysma brought both of its arms up to defend against his attack and at the impact the clang reverberated throughout the large room. Dash hit his overboosters as he was being held in midair by Cataclysma's block. The powerful thrusters forced him past Cataclysma's guard and he brought his AC's knee up to Cataclysma's head as he flew past Cataclysma's arms. The impact actually forced Cataclysma into the air and followed by landing Cataclysma hard on the ground with Dash landing hard on its chest. Axes raised again both parallel and started falling down towards Cataclysma's head, however, Cataclysma kicked its leg up, kicking Dash in the back, forcing him to rollover his own head and land on his back beyond Cataclysma.

Cataclysma arched its back and bounded up onto its feet as Blaze fell from the ceiling above it, the entire fall raining down rapid fire depleted uranium onto Cataclysma. Blaze drew her blade as she neared Cataclysma but it raised its hand up into the hell fire coming from Blaze's muzzles and grabbed her blade-hand. Cataclysma pulled on her arm and twisted, causing it to rip free from its joint as her Tempest was forced to the ground flat on its back, ruining Blaze's back weapons and EO.

"Why are you all here!" Xero yelled into the comm as everyone regained themselves. Blaze struggled to her feet, as did Dash. Morrow was standing ready at the entrance to the corridor and Xero was standing a distance behind Cataclysma. "I already told you that enough blood was spilled today."

"no there hasn't been enough!" Morrow yelled back, "that things blood has not been allowed to soak the ground yet." Morrow raised his left hand and ignited his moonlight, pointing it at Cataclysma. "that thing killed Angel, I won't let you have all the fun Xero, I have a score to settle with that damn thing as well."

"That's right!" Blaze was on her feet and moved to stand slightly behind Morrow, machine gun raised. "I couldn't leave you to do this alone Xero, and don't even think of telling me to leave, you can't make me go. I won't leave you, not this time…"

"I have unfinished business with it as well…" Dash was on his feet and standing in front of Xero, axes ready. "it manipulated Nydem to its own whims, and it caused me to turn against the few friends I had, I won't let it have a chance to do that to anyone else."

"and we all vowed to finish this thing off a long time ago…" three more ACs walked in from the corridor. Xero recognized them to be Matthew, Tyre, and an unknown AC that identified itself as White Rose, piloted by Matthew's wife, Robin; it was identical to Black Rose, which was piloted by Matthew except it was painted white.

"Matt! Tyre!" Xero gave up and accepted it, "thanks for coming… all of you…"

Cataclysma stirred, apparently not perturbed at the thought of now facing seven ACs instead of one or four. Instead, it gave a great roar and arched its back, black energy began focusing around it. The energy flowed around it until moving and focusing on its fist and back. The energy reddened and focused into distinct shapes; changing into a pair of dark demonic wings and a demonic looking scythe with a long, blood-red blade.

"Fear, is a great weapon…" Cataclysma recovered and stood straight, its eyes shone black, the wings and scythe rang with power begging to be tapped into. "now you must face it!" Cataclysma vanished

"Blaze, boost!" Matt yelled into the comm. Blaze didn't have much time to think but tried to boost nevertheless, Cataclysma appeared in front of her as she started to leave the ground, the scythe swung horizontally, catching Tempest in the hip joint; easily shredding the bottom half of the AC from the top.

Blaze screamed as the sound of screeching metal, alarms, and sparks filled her cockpit. The AC fell back to the ground, devoid of life; Blaze having passed out from the impact of the fall.

Morrow reacted quickly, spinning on his feet, blade still ignited. But Cataclysma had vanished again before he had gotten around, the plasma blade slicing nothing but stale air. "Damnit, where did it go?"

"Morrow, front! Fast!" Cataclysma had reappeared in front of Morrow, with the scythe raised high. Morrow spun back around just in time for the blade to come down and pierce through the top of Morrow's head and down all the way through to core, the tip coming out down between the legs. Morrow's AC was very nearly cut in half.

"Morrow!" three voices screamed in sync as Xero, Dash, and Tyre burst into action. Cataclysma pulled its blade out of Morrow's lifeless shell of an AC and vanished again. Morrow's mammoth of an AC seemed so frail suddenly; it merely stood there like a statue, its hands out at its sides as if it was jumping back from something, the blade was still ignited. The AC fell to its knees, the blade withdrew, and then it happened; Morrow's great AC that had led mankind for the past two years fell forward and landed hard on its front side. The forward armour and head crushed like tin foil under the AC's own weight.

Cataclysma had vanished once more but Xero could feel; he could feel where it would be next. He swung both katanas above his head and caught the scythe blade as it returned to reality, already swinging down towards Adrenaline. "You killed him! You piece of shit!" Xero screamed as he pushed the katanas up, forcing the blade upwards, actually holding Cataclysma in the air. Cataclysma somersaulted backwards and landed in front of Xero. Xero, however, was already moving, tears leaking from the corners of his eyes as he thought of his best friend, dead in the AC lying on the ground. His mind switched, all thoughts focused on the beast that was standing in front of him, the one that had just ended his friends life.

Xero swung once, twice, three, four, five times. He was stringing an endless staccato of blade flashes together. Cataclysma was the one having trouble keeping up this time, the swings began passing its guard and with each one that made it through, a solid shot of neon blood splashed on the ground around Cataclysma.

It vanished again to save itself from Xero's onslaught of attacks and appeared next to Tyre who swung his sniper rifle up and fired of a shot two feet from Cataclysma's head just as it appeared, it disappeared again just as fast to avoid the shot. "Those tricks won't work on anyone else in this room Cataclysma."

It appeared again in front of Black Rose and White Rose, each with their dual blades charged and beaming, waiting for it. They rushed forward, all four blades swinging at a seemingly wild rate, but in fact, each wave was a carefully calculated strike meant to pull Cataclysma off balance.

It happened, Cataclysma stepped back to dodge another pass and caught its foot on the nearly severed arm of Blaze's AC.

Xero took the advantage and swept forwards, pushing both of the katanas forward.

Straight up through Cataclysma's lower back.

Both blades shot forward, out of Cataclysma's front sides. Xero turned both blades outwards and ripped them out sideways.

There was no screaming, Cataclysma was silent as it fell to one knee and dropped the scythe to its side. "I commend your skill to work together; however, you have got a long way to go…"

Dash stepped up in front of Cataclysma, holding a large double-battle axe instead of the normal single bladed axes. "I beg to differ…" he held the axe high and brought it down with deft speed.

Cataclysma launched itself upwards and caught the axe in one hand and Dash's AC's head in the other. "like I said, you have a long ways to go!" Cataclysma threw Dash's AC away, sparks flying from the neck and back as it collided with the opposite wall.

Cataclysma disappeared again and materialized directly behind White Rose, both fists boiling over with energy.

Robin didn't have time to turn or scream. The large energy shotgun pulses lanced forward and ripped through White Rose. The left arm and head were completely ruined, and the left arm fell off a few seconds later. Both of the generators on the back were separated from the AC and were now leaking plasma and radiation, the whole core was completely torn apart; the lower left portion was ripped apart and thrown aside from the blast. The rest of the core was littered with large holes and was starting to melt itself apart. White Rose fell to the ground and pieces started falling off and melting to the ground.

Matthew said nothing but responded with his own blades and launched after Cataclysma. Cataclysma parried the right blade with its left forearm as it swung across and managed to get its right arm inside of Matthew's other arm as it came upwards.

The result was devastating. Cataclysma punched Black Rose in the center of the core, lifting the heavy AC off its feet and crumbling the front of the core. Black Rose was being held in the air when the back of the core began to glow before more energy pulsed burst from Black Rose's back. The heat melted the core in half through the middle; the weight of the legs pulling the bottom half of the melting core away from the top. The legs hit the ground and buckled as Cataclysma threw the top half away. Another shower of sparks met the AC as it impacted and slid across the wall it was thrown to.

Xero launched forward with a cry to rattle the ancients. Cataclysma disappeared again as Xero swung both blades together exactly where Cataclysma's head was a split second ago. It reappeared right behind Xero with both fists charged.

But it did not fire. Xero turned to look at the beast and found it merely standing there like a statue.

Protruding from its chest was a large hunting pike, the same that Dash had used on Xero days prior.

And sure enough, Dash was standing behind Cataclysma, pushing the pike through further, twisting and writhing it at the same time.

The silence was broken, "Do it Xero!" Tyre yelled from behind Xero.

Xero wasted no time and pulled both blades above his head, flipping both blades down at the same time.

Xero looked straight into Cataclysma's eyes, "Fuck You!"

Both blades dropped with lighting speed and accuracy, piercing straight through the top of its core and exiting down through each opposite hip.

_Xero, the rift! Let me use it!_ It was Kirel.

"Do it!" Xero pulled both of the blades out and Dash withdrew his pike, both stepped back as the wings began glowing a staccato of rippling colors not meant to ever be seen by human eyes.

Cataclysma lifted its head up and peered up at Xero who mounted both blades back to his hips. Its wings lifted so as to warp again, though they dropped again as a giant crimson blade burst forth from the front of its chest, Tyre standing behind Cataclysma, holding its scythe.

"Xero, get Blaze and Morrow, they are still alive. Get out of here; I will follow this thing to make sure it stays in Hell." Tyre twisted the scythe a bit inside of Cataclysma.

Xero contemplated protesting but thought it would be best not to argue. "thank you for everything Tyre. You won't be forgotten."

"no problem, it was an honor to fight with you Xero." Xero could almost feel the smile coming through Tyre's voice.

He wasted no time in stepping over to Blaze's AC while Dash went over to Morrow. Xero peeled back the core armour and pulled out the cockpit sphere which held Blaze's weak body, Dash did the same after turning Morrow's AC over onto its back.

Dash turned towards the exit hall and quickly boosted away and out of the tunnel. Xero walked to the edge of the tunnel before turning back to face Tyre. Xero stood stock still for a second to admire Tyre before the comm came up.

"here Xero, take this, Matt would have wanted you to have it. It's the key codes to his house and workshop; you should find some interesting things down there." A small window appeared on the side of the sphere screen with a small list of letter and number combinations.

"thank you again Tyre." This time it was Xero smiling.

Xero turned back to the tunnel and the comms opened up again, "Xero, I'm nOt doNe WitH YoU yeT!" Cataclysma lifted an arm, reaching for Xero, the voice was cut out when Tyre again twisted the scythe inside of Cataclysma. Xero responded with two words that caused a large dimensional rift to open up behind Tyre.

Xero saw Tyre drag Cataclysma to the void and jump in with it.

He flapped the wings and flew down the tunnel and turned upwards when the time came, coming once again into the sunlight. The communication blocks ended and Xero's comms were flooded with more cheering as he landed over by the crowd of AC pilots that had gathered in front of their AC's.

Xero set Blaze's sphere down and disembarked from his own AC. He ran around Adrenaline's leg and pulled the emergency purge. The cockpit sphere hatch lit up and launched off of the pod. Blaze stumbled out holding her head.

Xero caught her by the arms as she fell from the hole. She looked up at him, "that wasn't that hard was it?" Xero smiled as she fell asleep in his arms.

He stood, carrying her and looked around. The other pilots were still cheering and celebrating. Dash was standing a distance away embracing Nydem in a tight hug. They separated and walked over to Xero. Nydem bowed her head slightly and introduced herself, "I'm sure you already know who I am. But I am sorry for all the trouble I caused, I'm afraid I wasn't completely myself."

"no, its alright. I understand." Xero smiled and faced Dash who smiled back.

Morrow walked up behind Xero and patted him on the back, "and so ends another stereotypical day in the life of Xero." Xero looked up at him and cocked an eyebrow. Morrow returned the look for a second before doubling over with laughter.

Xero rolled his eyes and walked towards the crowd of pilots. Morrow still standing there, supporting himself on his knees, laughing himself out of breath.

_**FIN**_


End file.
